ILB 1115 
C9 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



il^p. ©opiirisy ^n. 

du-^^ 

UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



PRACTICAL 

CHILD STUDY 

With Outlines, Definitions and Practical Suggestions 

FOR 

TEACHERS AND PARENTS 



By A. D. CROMWELL, 

Instructor of English and Psychology. 

ToBiN College, 

Ft. Dodge, Iowa. 






f tm 271896/ , 



.^.^^^,t^^!><3.,,^i. 



CHICAGO: 

W. M. Welch & Company, 

Publishers. 



Copyright 1895 

BY 

W. M. Welch & Company. 



LB///5* 



Fl^EFACE. 



For some time I have felt that there was a gap between 
teachers and scientists in the subject of Child Study. While 
the study of children below school age is a grand, good work, 
and must be the foundation of scientific Child Study, yet the 
teachers cannot wait for its results though they will be of the 
highest value. Teachers must have something that will help 
now. They must have their attention directed to see their 
pupils as they now are. 

I am conscious of the difficulties in undertaking to furnish 
such a work, and realize that any work of mine will fall far short 
of what we might wish it to be, but I have been persuaded that 
even in its present shape it may be of use to some. I hope at 
least it will help to raise the tide of interest in Child Study that 
characterizes the educational movements of to-day. 

No claim of originality is made. It takes a Newton to dis- 
cover gravitation and other laws of nature, but we that have 
not genius may arrange and apply those principles. 

I am indebted to the authors from whom I quote, to Supt, 
Kratz of Sioux City for an example of where such a record is 
kept with the best of results, and to my friend and co-worker 
Professor J. F. Monk of this College for his help and his 
suggestions, also to Dr. Scripture of Yale for his kindness. 

A. D. Cromwell. 
Tobin College, Fort Dodge, Iowa. 
Sept. 1895. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
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QUOTATIONS ARE FROM; 

1. Elements of Psychology.— Hewett. fO 70 

2. Psychology, Descriptive and Explanatory. — Ladd 3 00 

3, Outlines of Psychology,— Ladd 2 00 

4, Mind Studies for Young Teachers. — Allen 40 

6. Temperament in Education.— Allen 50 

6. Practical Pedagogics. — Patrick 85 

7. Lessons in Psychology. — Gordy 1 00 

8. Teacher's Hand Book of Psychology. — Sully 1 25 

9. Practical Lessons in Psychology. — Krohn 1 25 

10. Art of Securing Attention — Fitch 60 

IL Teacher's Psychology. — Welch 1 25 

12. Talks on Pedagogics. — Parker 1 50 

13. Elements of Psychology.— D. J. Hill 1 25 

14. Psychology in Education. — Roark 1 00 

15. Elements of Pedagogics. — White 1 00 

16. Psychology (Brief Course). — James 1 75 

17. Empirical and Rational Psychology. — Schuyler 1 25 

18. Elementary Psychology and Education. — Baldwin 1 25 

19. How to Study.— Welch 1 00 

2). Psychology Applied to Education. — Compayre 90 

21 . Lectures on Teaching. — Compayre 1 25 

22. Applied Psychology.— McCle-lan 1 25 

23. Thmking, Feeling, Doing.— Scripture. [This is the only work 

onExperimental Psychology, written in language which the 

average teacher can understand.] 1 50 

24. Kirkpatrick's Inductive Psychology ^ 80 

25. Our Bodies and How We Live — Blaisdell 75 

26. Principles of Education.— Greenwood 1 00 

A// books named in this work may be had by sending the price to 
W. M. Welch, &^ Co., Garden dfy Block, ^6 Fifth Avenue, Chicago. 



4 • Practical Child Study." 

CONTENTS. 

IS IT AN EXPERIMENT? Col. Parker's Quotation 6 

INTRODUCTION - - 7 

BENEFITS of Child Study to Teachers - - - ib 

HOW TO USE THE RECORD ----- 12 

40 BLANK OUTLINES, (One for each pupil.) - - \^ 

TEMPERAMENTS: Importance - - - - ,_58 

Practical Directions - - - 59 

HEALTH --------- 60 

SIGHT : Importance and Practical Directions - - 61 

HEARING : Definitions and Importance - - - 63 

Practical Directions ----- 64 

OBSERVATION : Definitions and Importance - \66^ 

Practical Directions - - - - 67 

ATTENTION : Definitions and Importance - - 69 

Practical Directions - - - - 70 

MEMORY : Definitions and Importance - - . 72 

Practical Directions - - - - - 73 

IMAGINATION : Definitions and Importance - - 74 

Practical Directions - - - - 75 

REASONING : Definitions and Importance - - 'jj 

Practical Directions - - - - 78 



Practical Child Study. 5 
CONTENTS— Continued. 
SELF CONTROL : Definitions and Importance - 80 
Muscular Control - - - - 81 
Muscular Power _ _ _ 83 
SENSE OF RIGHT : Definition and Importance - - 85 
Stanley Hall's estimation of the 
various studies as aids to moral and 
intellectual culture - - - 86 
Children's ideas of right and wrong 88 
Dr. Krohn's remarks on Early Wo- 
manhood and Early Manhood - 89 
Separation of Boys and Girls - 95 
Physical Exercise and Manual Train- 
ing 96 

Punishments - - - - gj; 

Value of Play _ _ - - 

LANGUAGE: -----..- 100 

EXPERIMENTAL CHILD STUDY: 

Before Birth ----- 109 

The Child at Birth - - - - no 

Touch and Taste - - - - 11 1 

Smell - - - - - - 112 

Temperature - - - . - 114 
Hearing - - - - - -114 

Sight - - - - - - 115 

Muscular Feelings - - - - 116 

Reaction and Measuring Thought and Movement 

Association Time - - 117 

Reaction with Discrimination and Choice - 122 
HABIT - - - - - - - - - - 129 



AN EXPERIMENT. 

To those who ask, "Is it not dangerous to allow teachers 
to experiment on children?" I will answer in the words of 
Colonel Parker : "Not a tithe of the danger there is in allow- 
ing supervisors to prescribe methods, and rigidly enforce the 
literal following of a course of study. The most awful experi- 
ment is to put a girl fresh from the high school on a cram ex- 
amination, without a scintilla of the art of teaching, or a faint 
suspicion of it, in charge of fifty immortal souls ; and next to 
that, even more often, if possible, to put a college graduate, 
chock full of conceit and of nothing else, at the head of a 
school. Thousands of schools are now in charge of principals 
who have not the faintest idea how to direct and teach teach- 
ers. There must needs be experiments, but let us have those 
experiments which are promoted by an all-controlling desire 
to do good rather than the experiments of ignorance. The 
strongest influence of a teacher consists not in his teaching of 
itself, but in his attitude towards knowledge and its relation to 
education. If the teacher is everlastingly in love with know- 
ledge, if this love speaks in his eyes and charms in his manner, 
little else is needed to make his pupils lovers of knowledge. 
If the teacher is thoughtfully studying the needs of each of his 
pupils, and striving to apply the best conditions for the high- 
est self-effort, he is not an experimentor in the common ac- 
ceptance of the term ; the difference is world-wide between 
an investigation in the sense of studying a profession and an 
experiment which implies the destruction of material used."^^ 



INTRODUCTION. 

CHILD STUDY is the systematic observation of children.. 
If, as Stanley Hall says, but one teacher in ahundred is interested 
in child study, it is because they do not know how to go at it; 
how to look, or what to look for. To them the subject is a 
vague, abstract, theoretical conglomeration. The aim of this 
book is to bring the subject before teachers in a clear, practical 
form; to furnish a definite basis and practical aim for syste- 
matic observation of school children. All theoretical or un- 
practical matter is omitted, and only that is included which is of 
paramount importance to the teacher. Forty blanks are fur- 
nished, as that is enough for the average school, but extra 
blanks may be obtained from the publishers. 

To the teacher, tact and skill to read the minds and 
motives of pupils is a possession of no small importance. Suc- 
cessful teaching consists in carefully and skillfully applying 
the proper means of discipline and culture to each individual 
under instruction. If the teacher fails to find the proper 
means or the proper place of application, the end sought will 
not be attained. 

"The living, playing, learning child, whose soul heredity 
has freighted so richly from a past, we know not how remote, 
on whose right development all good causes in the world de- 
pend, embodies a truly elementary psychology. All the fun- 
damental activities are found, and the play of each psychic pro- 
cess is so open, simple, and interesting that it is strange that 

7 



8 Practical Child Study 

psychology should be the last of the sciences to fall into line in 
the great Baconian change of base to which we owe nearly all 
the reforms from Comenius down, which distinguish schools of 
to-day from those of the sixteenth century. It is a striking 
fact that nearly every great teacher in the history of education 
who has spoken words that have been heeded, has lived for 
years in the closest personal relations to children, and has had 
the sympathy and tact that gropes out, if it can not see clearly, 
the laws of juvenile development." — Stanley Hall. 

How many teachers would have failure turned to success, 
if they could only see and correct the little defects or faults? 
How many weary, anxious hours would be saved, if teachers 
could see pupils as they are? Such little things as: "Why is 
that child inattentive to day? She gave good attention yester- 
day," Perhaps she is deaf in the ear toward the class and 
teacher. If, as yesterday^ she were at the other side of the 
class, the good ear would be toward the speaker, the child 
would hear all, become interested and attentive. That boy on 
the back seat may be unable to get his lessons because the 
light pours into his weak eyes causing them to pain him. If 
the teacher knew that, she would give him a better lighted 
seat. Children can hardly be interested enough to study when 
ill or in pain. Their minds turn in, as it were, upon them- 
selves and not out upon the subject. If the teacher 
knew that that boy was of a sanguine temperament, she 
would ask a favor of him instead of scolding him, 
then he would be the maker and not the breaker of 
the school. That girl missed half her words in the read- 
ing lesson because she is a careless, inaccurate observer. Mary 
does not understand the reading lesson, or is poor in geography 
.and history, because she has a poor imagination. Such little 



Practical Child Study. 9 

things make the difference between success and failure; be- 
tween school keeping and school teaching. 

A record has been kept so long of attendance and pages 
passed over, that the importance of them has been 'magnified 
till we have lost sight of growth or developing the child morally, 
intellectually, and physically. We ought to remember that it 
is the individual and not the class that is of importance. De- 
velop the individual and the class will take care of itself. But 
how are we to bring out t iC individual? In the public schools 
there must be class work, pupils must be treated collectively. 
While this is true, yet, if an outline of each pupil's capacities 
and tendencies is kept, attention is directed to him as an in- 
dividual, he is brought out, as it were, from behind the class, 
and many opportunities that would otherwise pass unimproved, 
will be used for the upbuilding of that individual. 

The plan is especially adapted to institute work, as the 
topics are treated so briefly that the instructor may enlarge 
upon them as he chooses. It is' recommended that children be 
brought before teachers and the outline filled in as far as 
possible, allowance being made for the embarrassment of the 
child under such circumstances. 

It may seem hard to understand how to keep the record, 
or it may appear to be an extra burden on the teacher, but 
teachers should remember that we are the sum of our endeavors 
and that the fruit will be in direct proportion to the labor or 
the effort put forth. And so the child, when we try to lead 
him to correct his faults, or make up his deficiencies, is helped 
in proportion to the effort we can induce him to put forth. 



BENEFITS. 

1. It gives teachers a better understanding of general 
tendencies and apparent inconsistencies of human nature. 

2. It aids in developing that which should be the highest 
aim in education, — character. 

3. It gives tact, and understanding of the best stimulus 
for each child, through which to gain physical, intellectual, and 
moral growth; and through which to govern. 

4. It leads the teacher to a careful and systematic obser- 
vation of each child, and thus makes possible a more sym- 
metrical development of each individual. 

5. It tends to bringteacher and pupil into closer relations 
of co-operation and sympathy. - The rod is used for all offences, 
not because any teacher supposes it a cure-all, but be- 
cause it is easier to pound the flesh than to think, and study 
the best means of controlling each child. 

6. It makes something besides attendance and pages 
passed over, the aim of school work. By keeping a record of 
attendance and pages passed over, we have come to look upon 
these as the aim of our school work; whereas, growth, physi- 
cal, intellectual, and moral, is the true end of education. 
If no record is kept, the little peculiarities of the child will 
pass unnoticed; but, by keeping an individual record, attention 
is called, and the teacher by her assignment of lessons, her 
questions, her conversation, and her seating, etc., may be able 
to suppress the bad and to stimulate the good. Remember, 
a dormant impulse dies; but we are the sum of our endeavors. 

10 



Practical Child Study ii 

7. Child Study will enable the teacher to know what con- 
stitutes an average normal child. If she find a child below 
this, she can use means to bring him up to the required per- 
fection, but if she [find a child above this, and symmetrical, 
she may do more, if she knows chiW nature, to stimulate a 
healthy, vigorous growth. And, if the child has the capacity, 
she may lead him on to develop genius. Because no two 
children are alike is no reason why the teacher should not 
know the ideal, and work toward it. 

8. Child Study will enable the teacher to stimulate and 
guide self-effort. It will enable teachers to control, to some 
extent, the child's ideas, and so control his emotions and his 
acts. For ideas make emotions, emotions make actions, actions 
make character, character makes destiny. School government 
is character building. Child Study will enable the teacher to 
understand herself, — her thoughts, her emotions, her actions 
— and only when a teacher understands herself, is she able to 
understand others. One mind is typical of the race. Each 
one is a type of the race and stands for humanity. The 
scientist sees the oak tree in the acorn, so the teacher should 
see the future man or woman in the boy or girl. Above all, the 
outlines enable a teacher to leave to her successor a statement 
of the child's physical, intellectual, and moral condition — his 
characteristics, his tendencies, and his attainments, thereby 
enabling her successor to become a safe and sure guide up the 
path of intellectual and moral development. 

9. Child Study will do for the teacher what any science 
will do for her — Develop power to think, and give mental cul- 
ture because it requires, first, close observation; second, care- 
ful reflection; third, fine and critical distinctions; fourth, pre- 
cision and exactness in the use of terms and in making state- 
ments, and as Whittier says: 

"Invite the eye to see and heart to feel 
The beauty and joy within their reach. 
Home, and home loves and the beatitudes 
Of nature free to all." 



12 Practical Child Study. 

HOW TO USE THE RECORD. 

1. NATIONALITY : If not an American, allowance 
should be made for his thinking in a foreign language. 

2. TEMPERAMENT : This word meansthe blendmg of 
the mental characteristics with the physical characteristics. We 
recognize four temperaments; first, the Nervous or Mental; 
second, the Sanguine; third, the Bilious; and fourth, the Lym- 
phatic. 

Nervous: Physical characteristics: Form slender, 
neck long, nose narrow, motions quick, skin thin and clear, 
eyes bright and usually gray, hair light and flaxen but turns 
dark as the child grows older. 

Mental characteristics : Impulsive, quickly and easily 
reconciled, irresolute, lover of study, especially of poetry and 
nature. 

Sanguine: Physical characteristics: form plump, neck 
short, nose outspread, motions medium, skin florid or reddish, 
eyes blue, hair reddish. 

Mental characteristics : Impulsive, resolute, muscular 
pursuits preferred, lover of music and fine arts, especially 
eloquence. Equally happy in the pursuit of little as of much. 

Bilious: Physical characteristics : Form thick set, 
motions slow, neck short, nose outspread, skin dry and dark 
or pale olive, eyes black or brown, hair black and abundant. 

Mental characteristics : Passionate, not impulsive, busi- 
ness and gainful pursuits preferred, aims high, happy in the 
attainment of wealth, power, and family advancement. 

Lymphatic : Physical characteristics : Form thick set, 
neck short, nose outspread, motions slow, skin dense and 
colorless, eyes hazel or brownish-gray, hair brown. 



Practical Child Study. 13 

Mental characteristics : Slow, heavy, often stupid, 
never excitable, forgives but never forgets, plodding in busi- 
ness but persistent in work, happy irom personal or sensa- 
tional comforts or pleasure. 

3. LEADING FEELINGS THROUGH WHICH TO 
GOVERN : The temperament will be suggestive, and the 
government at home will also be suggestive. Is it love, fear, 
public opinion, future reward, sense of duty? 

4. SUBJECT OF DEEPEST INTEREST: Tempera- 
ment will again be suggestive. Is it learning, business, war, his- 
tory, literature, music, poetry, art? Endeavor to find out 
whether he has ideal heroes, heroines, or associates whom he 
is trying to imitate. If so, what is the character of this ideal ? 
This is important. It may be his ideal is a boy who "bothered 
his teacher," "broke up the school," became a "cowboy," or, 
her ideal heroine became a "Trilby." If so, and you can't 
change this ideal, your teaching, so far as that boy is concerned, 
is time worse than wasted, for the longer he continues the 
more he becomes like the character. 

5. HEALTH : Good or bad? If ill, what is the cause? 
Suppose you find that a pupil has poor health, what can you 
do ? You can, at least, not blame the child for his inability, as 
you may be doing now. You will not require long-continued 
stillness, long-continued stress of attention, long-continued or 
precise use of the hand, eye, or vocal organs, especially if the 
child is nervous. 

6. SIGHT : Tested by letters, heavy half inch letters, such 
as are on the chalk box, should be seen twenty feet.* If sight 
is poor, give the child a well lighted seat. If the teacher wishes 
to test for color blindness, she may send the child to a box 



#A card especially for this purpose maybe had of the Publishers for 25 cents. 



14 Practicai Child Study. 

containing different colored sticks, shoe-pegs, pieces of yarn 
or paper ; and tell the child to select the blue, the red, the 
violet, etc. Professor Krohn says : "Defective vision will 
eventually cause nervous disorders in any child." 

7. HEARING : Tested by the watch tick. An ordinary 
watch should be heard six feet or more. If the child is par- 
tially deaf, especially as most often occurs in one ear, seat the 
child where he can best hear, i. e. with good ear toward the 
class and the teacher. 

8. OBSERVATION : By this word we mean the ability 
to see all that there is about us. The child's observation may be 
tested by questions like the following: How many wings has 
a fly? How many legs has it? How many feet has a snake? 
When a cow eats grass does she walk forward or backward? 
How does a robin build her nest? What color is your house 
painted? What did you see on the road to school? How 
does a hen swim? A cat cross a river? A dog walk? Any 
questions that will enable you to tell whether he has seen or 
is guessing. 

9. ATTENTION, or the power to give undivided thought 
and action to the subject in hand. Attention is the power that 
the mind has to bring all its force to bear on one thing. New- 
ness of surroundings; a cold in the head, or ill health of any kind 
will weaken attention for a time, so we should watch the child 
for a few days before we conclude that his power of attention 
is poor. Then, if he gazes around while trying to study, or 
takes first one thing and then another, his attention may be 
called poor. 

10. MEMORY, or the power to receive, retain, and again 
recall past ideas or objects as they are or were; (a) Thought 
Memory is the faculty that enables us to receive, retain, and 



Practical Child Study 15 

recall the thought or idea of that which we learn. It is tested 
by ability to learn easily and quickly the idea of rules, quota- 
tions, or recitations, (b) Mechanical Meynory or the faculty 
that enables us to reproduce the exact words of quotations, 
recitations, poems, etc. 

12. IMAGINATION or the faculty by which we see ideal 
objects. It is seeing with the mind's eye. It is our power to in- 
tentionally represent our acquisitions in new forms. Imagin- 
ation may be tested by story pictures, by ability to see in the 
mind the people, places, and such objects about which the 
child reads. 

12. REASON, judgment, or power to think. This is the 
faculty by which we see cause and effect, right and wrong, or 
what will be of benefit from what will be of injury. It may be 
tested with questions like these: Do boot-blacks like to have 
it rain? What is the use of doors? Why do men sow seeds? 
Why doesn't the cat walk on two legs? Where do the fish go 
when it rains? Are snow and rain alike? 

13. SELF CONTROL: Are the child's movements 
accurate? Does he sit and stand still? Can he place his pen- 
cil just where he wants to — between two dots ? Does he get 
nervous when he writes ? Can he thread a needle ? 

14. SENSE OF RIGHT : Does he obey the golden 
rule? Give others their right? What would he do with a 
thousand dollars? Does he share his toys, food, pleasures, 
etc., with others? 

15. GREATEST MENTAL DEFICIENCY: Is it at- 
tention, imagination, memory, or some other deficiency? 

16. GREATEST PHYSICAL DEFICIENCY: Is it 
hollow chest, stoop shoulders, lack of blood, or some other 
defect? 



i6 Practical Child Study. 

17, 18, 19. In the words of the Bible, "It is the letter that 
killeth, but the spirit that maketh alive." Teachers want 
knowledge, but they want inspiration also. 17, 18, 19 are left 
blank below for the teacher to fill with Perception, Language, 
Reaction-time, Association-time, Weight, Height, or any topic 
the teacher may choose. Reaction-time and Association-time 
are explained in the last chapter of this book. 

Keep a record of each pupil, leave a record for your suc- 
cessor, and if you think it for the child's good, send a copy of 
your record to the child's parents. 

Extra outlines may be bought of the publishers of this 
book. 

Cards prepared especially for testing sight of school 
children may be had of the publishers of this work for 25 cts. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of : Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age. 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 9th. 

month month 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 

8. 
9. 

10. 



10. 

11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

^Acquires 
(a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory ( 

I Recalls . 

rAcquires 
(d) Mechanical 

or word -( Retains. 



memory 



Recalls . 



Imagination. 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 

Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



j;ii E-e.xcellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled m the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of -Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



o. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 9th. 

month month 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 

10. 



10. 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

rAcquires 

(a) Logical or I 

thought < Retains. 



memory 



I Recalls . 
rAcquires 



(d) Mechanical j 

or word ■{ Retains, 
memory 

Recalls 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



11. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 
18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of— —Date . 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 












5. Health 












6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9. Attention 












'Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or • 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

L Recalls . 












("Acquires 












10. {3) Mechanical 

or word -{Retains. 












memory | 

I Recalls . 












IL Imagination 












12, Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 














""1 









E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions, 
Record of Date 



1, Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4i Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















6 Sight 
















































rAcquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought <j Retains, 
memory 

I Recalls . 
































rAcquires 

10. {d) Mechanical 

or word -( Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls. 












11 Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 

(thought) 

13. Self control 






















14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 
































18 % 












19 

























E-excel!ent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5. 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained, . 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of —Date — 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 












5. Health 












6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9. Attention 












("Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 1 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory I 

I Recalls . 












r Acquires 












10. (d) Mechanical 

or word •{ Retains. 












memory 

I Recalls. 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 

























E-e.xcellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should b& 
filled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of -Date. 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 

8. 
9. 

10. 



10, 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

rAcquires 

{a) Logical or | 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory j 

I Recalls . 

rAcquires 

((5) Mechanical j 

or word ■{ Retains 
memory 

Recalls 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



11. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 
18. 
19. 



E-e.\cellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the lacts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of .Date - 



1. Nationalitv- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feeling's through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9. Attention. ... 












'Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory j 

I Recalls . 












rAcquires 












10. (d) Mechanical 

or word ^ Retains. 












memory 

-.Recalls . 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of^ Date — 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 

6. Health 

6. Sight 

7. Hearing 

8. Observation 

U Attention 

r Acquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains, 
memory j 

I Recalls . 

rAcquires 

10. {d) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains, 
memory 

Recalls 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



n. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 

18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



should be 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of— Date _ 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 




1st. 
month 


3rd. 

month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















6 Sight 












7. H earing 
























9 Attention 












-Acquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory 

L Recalls . 












rAcquires 












10. (d) Mechanical 

or word ■<, 


Retains. 
L Recalls . 












memory 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 













15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
-filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions- 
Record of -Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 






















6, Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation , . .... 












9 Attention 












rAcquires 
10. (a) Logical or 1 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls . 












rAcquires 
10. {d) Mechanical 1 

or word ■{ Retains. 






















memory | 

iRecalls. 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 
































18 ^. . 












19 
























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, 


W-weak. 


Use the 1 


etters. 1, 


i, 5, 6 and 7 


should be. 



filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained.. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 












5. Health 












6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












S. Observation 












9. Attention 












rAcquires 
10. {a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls . 












rAcquires 
10. (d) Mechanical 

or word -{ Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls . 












n. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19. 























j-^"^"'^*^'^''^"*' M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
Tilled m the hrst week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of^ Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


. 3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 
K Health 






















6 Sight 
















































rAcquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought -l Retains. 






















•memory 

.Recalls . 












-Acquires 

10. {d) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains, 
memory 

.Recalls . 
































11 Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

13 Self control 














- 




















15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 
































IS 












19 

























filled in the first 'week. The others as soon as the lacts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of -Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age^ 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 












5. Health 












6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9. Attention 












rAcquires 
10. [a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory 1 

I Recalls . 












"Acquires 
10. (d) Mechanical 

or word -( Retains. 























memory 

.Recalls . 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 
















"1 









E-e.xcellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tiled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directioi;s. 
Record of ■ ^Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 

10. 



10, 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

rAcquires 

(a) Logical or | 

thought \ Retains, 
memory 

I Recalls . 

rAcquires 

[b) Mechanical 
or word ■{ Retains, 
memory 

Recalls . 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



11. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 
18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-mediiim, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date . 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation ... 












9 Attention 












r Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

I Recalls . 












r Acquires 












10. {d) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains. 












memory 

-Recalls. 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 




_. 










1 


""1 1 





E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read ; The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of^ Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 

month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















6 Sight 
















- 
































rAcquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory | 

I Recalls . 
































-Acquires 

10. (d) Mechanical 

or word -{Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls . 












11 Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

13 Self control 






















14 Sense of right. 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 
































18 












19 

























E-e.xcellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5. 6 and 7 should be 
lilled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the iacts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age- 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 
























9 Attention 












'Acquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

I Recalls . 












rAcquires 

10. (d) Mechanical 

or word -(Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls . 












IL Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control...-. 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



ist. 

month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 

6. Sight 

7. Hearing 

8. Observation 

9. Attention 

rAcquires 

10. (a) Logical or I 

thought ■{ Retains. 
memory j 

I Recalls . 

rAcquires 

10. {d) Mechanical } 

or word ■{ Retains, 
memory | 

I Recalls . 



IL Imagination. 



12. Reasoning or judgment 

(thought) 

13. Self control 



14. Sense of right 

15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 



18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the 1 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can 



etters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feeling's through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 

5, Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 
























rAcquires 
10. (a) Logical or 1 

thought -l Retains. 






















memory j 

I Recalls . 












-Acquires 
10. {d) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains. 






















memory 

, Recalls. 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 






, 






19 














1 









E-e.xcellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of- Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 

8, 
9. 

10. 



10 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention.. 

rAcquires 
{a) Logical or 

thought -l Retains. 
memory | 

L Recalls . 

rAcquires 

((5) Mechanical 

or word < Retains. 



memory 



Recalls 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



11. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 
18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
iilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date . 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 

month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












•8. Observation . . 












'9 Attention 












'Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

I Recalls . 












r Acquires 












10. {i>) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains. 












memory 

.Recalls . 












IL Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15, Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 

























E-excellen't, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
iilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions, 
Record of -Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 



6. Sight. 



9. 
10. 

10. 

11. 

12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 

16. 
17. 

18. 
19. 



Hearing 

Observation. 
Attention. . . 



^Acquires 

(a) Logical or I 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory | 

I Recalls . 

rAcquires 

(d) Mechanical 

or word { Retains, 
memory | 

I Recalls . 



Imagination , 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 

Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2. 5, 6 and 7 should be: 
tilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
JRecord of- —Date — 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 




1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















^ Sight 
















































rAcquires 

10. {a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory j 

I Recalls . 
































rAcauires 












1 
10. (d) Mechanical 

or word -^ 


Retains. 
L Recalls . 












memory 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 

(thought) 

13. Self control 






















14 Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 
































18 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5. 6 and 7 should be 
£lled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date • 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament. 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


tst. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8 Observation 
























'Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls. 












[-Acquires 












10. {i) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains. 












memory 

.Recalls. 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control..., 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 













16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 : 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the tacts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of —Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 3rd. 5th. 7th. 9th. 

month month month month month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 



6. Sight. 



Hearing „ 

Observation. 
Attention. . . 



10. 



10, 



r Acquires 

(a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory 

I Recalls . 

r Acquires 

{3) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains, 
memory 

Recalls . 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



11. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 
18. 

19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5. 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date. 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 

month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 

10. 

10, 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

^Acquires 

(a) Logical or 

thought < Retains, 
memory | 

I Recalls . 

("Acquires 

{!>) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains, 
memory 

.Recalls 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



n. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 

18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, VV-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5 6 and 7 should be 
lilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feeling-s through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 

8. 
9. 

10. 

10. 

11. 

12. 
13. 

14. 
15. 

16. 
17. 

18. 
19. 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

rAcquires 



{a) Logical or 
thought 
memory 



Retains. 

Recalls . 

rAcquires 
(d) Mechanical ! 

or word ^Retains. 



memory 



I Recalls 



Imagination. 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 

Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled m the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read ; The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of ■ Date . 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Ase 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 9th. 

month month 



4. 

5. 
6. 

7. 
8. 
9. 

10. 



10, 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

rAcquires 

Retains. 
I Recalls . 

[-Acquires 

(d) Mechanical I 

or word ■{ Retains. 



(a) Logical or I 
'it ■{ ■ 
memory 



thought 



memory 



.Recalls 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



11. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 

18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the tacts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Kecord of ^Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



S. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9. Attention 












'Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

-Recalls . 












rAcquires 
10. (d) Mechanical ! 

or word ■{ Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls . 












IL Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be- 
hlled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date 



r. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. 
5. 

e. 

T. 

8. 
9. 

10. 



10, 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

' ■ ■ ■ ■ r Acquires 

(a) Logical or 

thought i Retains. 

memory | 

I Recalls . 

r Acquires 

(d) Mechanical j 

or word ■{ Retains. 

memory | 

> I Recalls . 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



IL Imagination 

13. 
14. 
15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Create St mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 
18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the tacts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of —Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 

5. Health 






















6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9. Attention 












rAcquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory | 

I Recalls . 












r Acquires 
10. (6) Mechanical 

or word •{ Retains. 






















memory 1 

1 Recalls. 












IL Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 














" i 











E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
hlled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions, 
Record of Date — 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















6 Sight 












7. Hearing 
























9 Attention 












r Acquires 
10. {a) Logical or 

thought <J Retains. 






















memory | 

I Recalls . 












rAcquires 

10. {i>) Mechanical 1 

or word ■{ Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls. 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17. 
































18 












19 . 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be. 
tilled in the tirst week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How lo Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date . 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament - 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 9th. 

month month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 












5. Health 












6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9. Attention 












rAcquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains. 






















memory | 

I Recalls . 












-Acquires 
10. (d) Mechanical 

or word < Retains. 






















memory 

-Recalls . 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tiled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of -Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



ist. 

month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 

6. Health 

6. Sight 

7. Hearing 

8. Observation 

9. Attention 

/"Acquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory j 

I Recalls . 



10. 

11. 

12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 



i Acquires 
Retains. 
I Recalls . 
Imagination 



(d) Mechanical 
or word 
memory 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 

Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 

Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
tilled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of ^Date . 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 












5. Health 












6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












■8. Observation 












9. Attention 












'Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought -l Retains. 






















memory 

L Recalls . 












-Acquires 
10. {i) Mechanical 

or word -l Retains, 
memory f 

I Recalls. 






























IL Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 


















1 





E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
±lled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions.. 
Record of Date— ■ 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament - 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 
■i Health .... 






















(\ SiP-ht .... 
















































'Acquires 

10. {a) Logical or 

thought ■{ Retains, 
memory 

.Recalls . 
































'Acquires 

10. {l>) Mechanical 

or word ■{ Retains, 
memory 

.Recalls . 












































12. Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

13 Self control 


































15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 
































is 












1Q 

























tilled in the hrst'week. The others as soon as the facts can- be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of— Date — 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age . 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th. 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















6 Sight 












7 Hearing 




































r Acquires 

10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

I Recalls . 












r Acquires 












10. {3) Mechanical 

or word •{ Retains . 












memory 

I Recalls. 












11. Imagination 










1 


12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 

16. Greatest physical defic- 

iency 

17 
































18 












19 

























E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
•Record of- Date • 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age ■_ 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. 
5. 
6. 

7. 
8, 
9. 

10. 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

r Acquires 

(a) Logical or 

thought ■< Retains, 
memory j 

I Recalls . 



10. 

IL 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 



{d) Mechanical I 
or word ^ 
memory 



r Acquires 
Retains. 
Recalls . 



Imagination. 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 

Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read ; The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperam^fu- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age- 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 



5th. 



month month 



7th. 
month 



9th. 
month 



4. Subject of deepest interest 
5 Health 






















* 

6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












8. Observation 












9 Attention 












'Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 

thought < Retains. 






















memory 

.Recalls . 












r Acquires 












10. (d) Mechanical 

or word ^Retains. 












memory 1 

I Recalls. 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of risrht 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 






















_, 



E-excellent, M-mediuni, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date — 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern 
Age 



1st. 
month 



3rd. 5th. 

month month 



7th. 9th. 

month month 



4. 
5, 
6. 
7. 

8. 
9. 

10. 



10, 



Subject of deepest interest 

Health 

Sight 

Hearing 

Observation 

Attention 

rAcquires 

[a) Logical or I 

thought \ Retains, 
memory | 

I Recalls . 

{Acquires 
Retains. 
Recalls . 



Reasoning or judgment 
(thought) 

Self control 



11. Imagination 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 



Sense of right 

Greatest mental deficiency 



Greatest physical defic- 
iency 



17. 

18. 
19. 



E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 should be 
filled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



Read : The Benefits, How to Use the Record, the Importance, and Practical Directions. 
Record of Date . 



1. Nationality- 



2. Temperament- 



3. Leading feelings through which to govern- 



Age- _ 


1st. 
month 


3rd. 
month 


5th. 
month 


7th.' 
month 


9th. 
month 


4. Subject of deepest interest 








' 




5. Health 












6. Sight 












7. Hearing 












-8. Observation 












9. Attention. .. 












/"Acquires 
10. (a) Logical or 1 

thought -; Retains. 






















memory ( 

L Recalls. 












rAcquires 
10. (i>) Mechanical j 

or word ■{ Retains. 






















memory 

-Recalls . 












11. Imagination 












12. Reasoning or judgment 












(thought) 
13. Self control 












14. Sense of right 












15. Greatest mental deficiency 












16. Greatest physical defic- 












iency 
17 












18 












19 












■ 













E-excellent, M-medium, P-poor, W-weak. Use the letters. 1, 2, 5. 6 and 7 should be 
hlled in the first week. The others as soon as the facts can be ascertained. 



58 Practical Child Study. 



TEMPERAMENTS. 

IMPORTANCE : Any one who has to do with the manage- 
ment of human beings would do well to remember that dif- 
ferent temperaments require different treatment. — Hewett} 

Supt. Greenwood of Kansas City, says: "The teacher who 
first prepares himself by a thorough working knowledge of the 
temperamental conditions of childhood, is better equipped for 
discernment of character and the various modes of treatment 
applicable to it, than one ignorant of these truths. Tempera- 
ment determines the prevailing bias of disposition, whether 
natural or acquired, and upon it depends the sum total of our 
inclinations and prevailing tendencies,"^^ 

Prof. Ladd of Yale, says: "The psychological peculiari- 
ties which distinguish the two sexes are scarcely less a matter 
of debate than are those which serve to difference the four 
temperaments: Strong reasons exist for admitting that 
there is much truth in the popular impression of a charac- 
teristic difference (temperament) in the way in which the 
memory and the imagination of men and women 'work' as we 
are wont to say.' Few impressions are more firmly fixed 
than this, that different individuals (at least among the 
more highly civilized peoples) are possessed of different nat- 
ural 'dispositions.' The term 'natural' expresses the current 
conviction that the foundation of their differences is innate 
and inherited, rather than the result of training and environ- 
ment. Experience shows that a so-called 'disposition' (tem- 
perament) generally maintains itself under greater alterations 
in circumstances, and against effort, to the close of the indi- 



Practical Child Study. 59 

vidual's life. Where it appears to be greatly modified, such 
modification is usually made at the expense of greater energy 
than is required even to break firmly acquired habits. Upon 
such patent facts the theory of temperaments is based. "^ 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS: i. Never put two pupils of 
the same temperament together. 2. Ask more questions of the 
lymphatic than of the nervous. Do not call attention to the 
errors of the nervous child publicly, but suggest quietly when 
with him only. Firm emphasis may be used when speaking 
to the lymphatic, but speak quietly and softly to the nervous. 
3. To the nervous child it does no good to say "Be still." 
"Don't twist and jump around so much." A motion of the hand 
or a soft word will do more. 4. Remember that to the san- 
guine, scolding is poison. 5. "If the bilious temperament is 
mixed with a little lymphatic and a little nervous, there will 
often be difficulty of a serious nature. Outbursts of passion 
will not pass pleasantly away, but there will be sulkiness, 
moroseness, backbiting, and a disposition to stir up mischief. 
The best way to treat such a case as this is, ( i ) ask the doing 
of a tavor; (2) show confidence by assigning some special 
work; (3) talk alone, and in a natural but decided tone of 
voice awaken conscience; (4) be unyielding in action, but use 
great care how you threaten or promise, or seem anxious to 
obtain personal favor; (5) If you have been wrong, say so in 
a manly manner, but not in a craven spirit; (6) keep the rems 
as in driving a horse, in your own hands."* 

Read : 
*Allen's Mind Studies, Allen's Temperament in Education, and 
Mantegazza's Physiognomy and Expression. 



6o Practical Child Study. 

HEALTH. 
By this we mean the condition of body and mind. 
"The body is a garden in which God plants a human soul." 
"The soul of a human being is not pure spirit but em- 
bodied mind." 

The fullest activity of the mind requires a healthy body. 
Professor Krohn in that most excellent book for teachers, 
"Practical Lessons in Psychology," says : "Only when the laws 
of growth are accurately known, is it possible to decide with 
certainty how much the growth of an individual exceeds or 
falls below the normal average ; and without this knowledge, 
the regulation of mental labor, from a physical standpoint, is 
a venturesome gropmg in the mist rather than a scientific de- 
duction. Fatigue, we know, arises from over-exertion, either 
mental or physical. It varies with the condition of the mind 
and body. Thus the child tires sooner when the work is dis- 
tasteful, or when the organs are unhealthy, or when the body 
is poorly nourished ; and the body is also wearied quicker 
when the mind is tired, and the mind quickly when the body 
is tired. The child tires more readily at some seasons than at 
others. The condition of the atmosphere, the weather, the time 
of day, all these affect the normal power of endurance. Also 
rapid growth diminishes one's power of endurance. The child 
that has grown up quickly tires easily. The great curse of this 
age is the demand for rapid education. Health is sacrificed 
for promotion, and the joyous, buoyant child is burdened with 
unnatural demands until such a thing as natural spontaneity is 
unknown."^ 

Read: 
Newsholme's School Hygiene, Horn's Practical Health Notes, 
Young's School Hygiene. Blaisdell's Our Bodies, 



Practical Child Study. 6i 



SIGHT. 



IMPORTANCE : Sight is/without doubt, the most valua- 
ble of the senses except the general sense of touch. Yet partial 
or complete blindness is not rare. One boy in twenty is color 
blind, and that defect, which is never found out by the individ- 
ual himself, may be determined by the teacher in one minute. 
Color blindness unfits one for occupations as far apart as rail- 
way signal man, painter, dressmaker, and artist. Shortsighted- 
ness is prevalent to an alarming degree. In New York, from 
3.5 per cent among children to 26.8 per cent among adults^ 
In Philadelphia the general average is 13.7 per cent. In Chi- 
cago from 4 to 27 per cent. In our colleges 35 per cent in the 
Freshman to 47 per cent in the Senior year, are shortsighted. 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS : Defective vision is caused 
by (i) Prolonged exertion of the eyes, especially in seeing 
near objects ; (2) inadequate amount of light ; (3) badly printed 
books ; (4) needlework ; (5) general ill health. To cure any 
disease or defect first remove the cause. 

To aid the pupils in taking care of their eyes (i) be sure 
that they have sufficient light, about 30 square inches of glass 
for each square foot of floor ; (2) be sure that the direct rays 
of light do not enter the eye ; (3) avoid the angle of reflection ; 
(4) do not allow a stooping or a forward inclination of the 
head ; (5) do not allow pupils to read with the book in their 
laps ; (6) have the pupils hold the book from 13 to 18 inches 
from the eye ; (7) have pupils sit, especially when writing, so 
that the light falls over the shoulder ; (8) avoid poorly printed 
books. Pica is small enough type for a child ; (9) have the 



62 Practical Child Study. 

eyes cleansed with pure soft water morning and evening. The 
use of the eye is actually beneficial to it, provided it be in 
a normal condition. Every faculty man possesses can be 
strengthened by judicious cultivation. 

But it is not the hygienic side alone of which we wish to 
speak. A great field is open to the teacher for the uplifting of 
humanity, in leading pupils to seethe beauties of the colors of 
nature and art. What is more common than an individual 
who is totally blind, i. e., without power to see the beauty and 
harmony of the colors about him ? Why is it that one woman or 
man sees the garment in which she or he will appear best, 
while another never sees a garment becoming to them ? Of 
course it is the difference in the training of their faculties of 
observation and imagination, but what is that but training the 
eye to see things as they are ? Is it not of practical impor- 
tance that the eye shall be taught to measure distance ? 
"Every free-hand artist, decorator, sign painter, tinsmith, and 
bricklayer," says Dr. Scripture, "depends for success on his accu- 
racy of eye. A surgeon with a large average error will be 
liable to cut an artery that ought not to be touched, a seam- 
stress will make uneven stitches. More than half the value of 
manual training lies in the education of the eye in this respect," 

Read : 
Newsholme's School Hygiene, Child Study Monthly, June 
1895, and Cohn's Hygiene of the Eye, and Thinking, Feel- 
ing, Doing. 



Practical Child Study. 63 



HEARING. 

DEFINITIONS : Through the sense of hearing we gain 
percepts of sound, of pitch, loudness, and musical tone. We can 
also, through the ear, judge of distance and direction. — Roark}^ 
The sense of hearing perceive? sounds as that of sight per- 
ceives colors and modifications of light and shade. As the 
mind infers solid shapes from light and shade, so does it infer 
from the various sounds we hear, their external origin, and the 
causes that produce them. — Welch}^ Thus we see that hearing 
means not only power to perceive sound, but power to dis- 
tinguish and tell the direction of sounds. 

IMPORTANCE : It has been said that hearing is the most 
internal sense. No other sense affects the emotions so quickly 
or so deeply as hearing. This is seen in the effects of music 
and of tones of the voice. — Hewett^ The utility of the sense of 
hearing is evident. Sound not only reveals external objects, 
but, in certain cases, warns us of danger, and as employed in 
language is expressive of thought, feeling, or volition. To this 
sense we are largely indebted for the pleasure of social inter- 
course, and for enjoyment derived from the arts of music and 
oratory. — Schuyler}'' Many people can not hear the sound of a 
cricket. Others cannot hear the squeak of a mouse, and they 
believe that we who do hear it just imagine it. An American 
journalist, Mr. Cowles, did not know till he was twenty-five, 
that he had defective hearing. He had never heard a bird 
sing. He said, "Up to this time I have treated all that I have 
read about the =ongs of birds as mere poetical fiction." He 
could not hear a high pitch but a low pitch was as easily dis- 



Small figures refer to list of books on page 2. 



64 Practical Child Study. 

tinguished by him as by any of us. Though they do not know 
it, and many think it humiliating to own it, yet old people can- 
not hear high tones. When the tone is high they simply hear 
nothing and think that no sound is being made. 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS : Children should be taught 
music, if for no other purpose, to train the ear. They should 
have lessons on the ring of different metals, just to train the 
hearing. 

Care of the Ear. — From BlaisdeWs'' Our Bodiesy — "The 
ear is a very delicate organ. It is often carelessly and igno- 
rantly tampered with, when it should be left alone. It is often 
neglected when skilled treatment is urgently needed. 

"The ear caftal should never be rudely or hastily washed 
out, either with a syringe or a wash-rag. The utmost gentle- 
ness in washing out the ear is all that is necessary for cleanli- 
ness. Children's e?rs should never be pulled or boxed. Even 
a slight blow has resulted in serious trouble. 

"Never use ear-picks, ear-spoons, the ends of pencils, or 
penholders, pins, hair-pins, tooth-picks, towel-corners, etc., to 
pick, scratch or swab out the ear canal. It is a foolish, need- 
less, and dangerous practice. There is always risk that the 
elbow may be jogged in many ways, and the pointed instru- 
ment pushed through the drumhead. 

"Let the ear wax take care of itself. The skin of the ear 
grows outward, and the extra wax and dust will be naturally 
carried out if let alone. Never drop sweet-oil, glycerine, and 
other fluids into the ear, with the idea that the ear is cleaner 
for them. They do no good and often irritate the ear. Never 
advise or allow any of the many nonsensical things so com- 
monly used, to be put into the ears to cure deafness. Cotton 
wads may be gently put into the ears to shield them from the 



Practical Child Study. 65 

cold, or may be worn in swimming or diving, to keep the water 
out. Diving into deep water, or bathing in the breakers, often 
injures the ears. 

"One should never shout in a person's ear. The ear is not 
prepared for the shock, and deafness has occasionally resulted. 
If the eustachian tube is closed for the time, a sudden explo- 
sion, noise of a gun or cannon may burst the drumhead. 
Soldiers during heavy cannonading open the mouth to allow 
of an equal tension of air. 

"Flies, bugs, ants, and the like, sometimes crawl into the 
ear. This may cause some pain and fright, and perhaps lead 
to vomiting, and even convulsions with children. A lighted 
lamp put at the entrance of the ear will often coax insects to 
crawl out towards the light. The ear may be syringed out with 
a little warm water. Drop in a few drops of molasses or warm 
sweet-oil. 

"When the ears run for any cause, it is not best to plug 

them with cotton wads. It only keeps in what should come 

out. Very cold water should never be used in the e^rs or 

nostrils if it can be helped. Use only tepid water. Do not go 

to sleep with the head on the window-sill, or in any position 

that may expose the ears to a draught of cold or damp air."^^ 

[Since the above was written Dr. Percy's excellent article in Child 
Study Monthly for October, 1895, has appeared. In which he says, keep 
the mouth, throat, and nose in children in a state nearly normal, and 
acquired deafness will be known only from the memory of history. The 
transformation that can be made in the physical and mental life of child- 
hood by care and attention along these lines cannot be expressed in words] 



66 Practical Child Study. 



OBSERVATION. 



DEFINITIONS : By observation we mean the degree to 
which we posess power to see all that there is about us. Observa- 
tion may be defined as a mental process induced by the continued 
action of objects or units of attributes upon consciousness. — 
Parker}^ Observation is a series of connected acts of attention. 
It consists in repeated and systematic efforts of attention di- 
rected to the discovery of some property or law of material 
objects. — Wcldi}^ The habit of observation is the habit of 
clear and decisive gazing; not by a first casual glance, but by a 
steady, deliberate aim of the eye, are the rare and characteris- 
tic things discovered. — Burroughs. By observation we care- 
fully note phenomena. I observe that two bodies fall to the 
ground with different velocities. I observe that a coin is 
heavier than a feather. — D. J. Hill}^ 

IMPORTANCE: The study of objects is the foundation 
of intellectual development. — Rooper. Particular importance 
should be attached to accurate observation, inasmuch as this 
is the indispensable foundation of all real education. — Smyth. 
Suppose it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune of 
every one of us would, one day or other, depend upon his win- 
ing or losing a game of chess. Don't you think that we 
should all consider it to be a primary duty to learn at least the 
names and moves of the pieces? Do you not think that we 
should look with a disapprobation amounting to scorn, upon 
the father who allowed his son, or the state which allowed its 



Small figures refer to list of books on page 2. 



Practical Child Study. 67 

members, to grow up without knowing a pawn from a knight? 
Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth that the life, the 
fortune, and the happiness of every one of us depend upon our 
knowing something of the rules of a game infinitely more d.f- 
iicult and complicated than chess. It is a game which has 
been played for untold ages, every man or woman being "one 
of the two players in a game of his or her own. The chess- 
board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the uni- 
verse, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. 
To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid. — 
Huxley. 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS: To strengthen the powers 
of observation, we must induce children to think about what they 
see. The value of work along this line depends upon the extent 
to which all of the observing faculties are called into activity. 
The child should not be told about the object, he must see 
touch, taste, hear, smell, etc., for himself. The intelligent 
teacher proceeds somewhat in this manner with her observa- 
tion lessons: She never uses pictures when the real object 
may be brought before the pupil, she teaches the idea, then the 
names of the simpler attributes, hardness, softness, color, taste, 
size, shape, etc., pro ceeding gradually to the more complex. 
Jn his language lesson she has him tell what he has seen, make 
lists of the objects possessing the attribute that was the sub- 
ject of the last lesson, and, if he can find any thing new, tell 
that also. She takes keen delight in his bringing things liav- 
ing these attributes, and showing them to her. As she looks 
at it she tries to lead him to see something more, connected with 
it. If he neglects to mention all the properties before learn- 
ed, she asks him if he does not know something else about it. 
Perhaps she laughs at him because he forgot, at least she lets 



68 Practical Child Study. 

him study a few minutes and then suggests just enough to put 
him on track of the idea. The next time his pride is at 
stake and he studies it more closely; he thinks over all that he 
has seen and heard about it. Then it comes to his mind, then 
the glee at his success; how anxious he is for more victories! 
away he goes in quest of new fields to conquer. As his powers 
increase she guides him to see deeper, from color to luster or 
polish, from the simple to the compound and the complex, 
thus bringing his faculties to act more and more vigorously; 
and in so doing, what is she doing but following that process 
which was going on from birth; carrying on that process by 
which the child learned more in six years before he entered 
school, than the average child learns during his school years. 

Read : 
Light's Outline of Mental Faculties, Parker's Talks on Peda- 
gogics, Arnold's Waymarks for Teachers, Jackman's 
Nature Study, Ricks' Object Lessons, Wood's How to 
Study Plants, and Cromwell's How to Teach Reading. 



Practical Child Study. 69 



ATTENTION. 

DEFINITIONS : Attention is the power the mind has 
to bring all its force to bear on one thing. — Hewett} Attention is 
the concentration of mind upon a particular object or thought. 
Patrick!" Attention is the voluntary effort which anv intellect- 
'ual faculty puts forth to gain a knowledge of its appropriate 
object. — Welchy^ By attention we mean purposeful volition, 
suffused with peculiar feelings of effort, or strain, and accom- 
panied by a changed condition of the field of discriminative 
conscience, as respects intensity, content and clearness. — 
Ladd? Attention is self-activity. It is will acting on the in- 
tellect. Attention selects one special field and refuses to be 
diverted from it. It neglects all else, and returns again and 
again to the object of special attention. Attention isolates one 
object from others, and concentrates effort upon it to the ex- 
clusion of all Other objects. Isaac Newton ascribed his supe- 
riority to other men in intellectual power, simply to his greater 
power of attention. — Dr. IV. T. Hattis. 

IMPORTANCE : The most significant word in a teacher's 
vocabulary is "Attention." — Patrick! In order that a teacher 
may be of any service to his pupils, he must have the power 
to secure their attention. — Hewett} All intellectual guidance 
of the young manifestly implies the power of holding their at- 
tention. — Sidly! The chief difference between the man of 
great reasoning powers and the ordinary man is that the for- 
xner notices resemblances that escape the attention of the lat- 
ter. — Gordy! If children are really to be the better for what 



Small figures refer to list of books on p. 2. 



70 Practical Child Study. 

we teach, if the truths we love so well are really to go deep 
into their conscience, and become the guiding principle of their 
lives, it is no half-hearted, languid attention which will serve 
our purpose. — Fitch}^ You readily see that the great difference 
between the educated and the uneducated man is found in the 
fact that the former has greater capacity for close, steady, sus- 
tained, concentrated attention. — Krohn? Attention is an im- 
portant faculty in morality. Get the mind away from the 
wrong act to the result, and if you can hold it on the result to 
the exclusion of the act, you have conquered. But consent to 
an immoral idea's undivided presence, and you will commit 
the deed. If the drunkard can keep before his mind, "One 
drink more and I am a drunkard,^' he will not drink ; but he 
Iceeps any other idea, rather than that — "Only this one and I 
will quit," or "This is a holiday." A few such thoughts and he 
is lost. 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS : "You will not get attention 
by demanding it, by claiming a right to it, by asking it as a favor, 
by telling the child the importance of the subject, or by speak- 
ing to him about its being his duty. To get his attention he must 
be interested. In the words of Comenius, a teacher may hold 
attention (i) by bringing before his pupils something pleasing 
and profitable ; (2) by introducing the subject in such a way 
as to commend it to them, or by stirring their intelligences in- 
to activity by inciting questions regarding it ; (3) by standing 
in a place elevated above the class, and requiring all eyes to 
be fixed on him ; (4) by aiding attention through the represen- 
tations of everything to the senses, as far as possible, with 
drawings, maps, charts, etc. ; (5) by interrupting his instruc- 
tion by frequent and pertinent questions— for example, "What 



Small figures refer to list of books on page 2 



Practical Child Study. 7I- 

have. I just said?" (6) by asking a question before calling 
the name of the one who is to answer, and if that one 
misses, skip to the second, fourth, tenth, or some irregular dis- 
tance from the first one called, and ask for an answer without 
repeating the question ; (7) by giving any one an opportunity- 
to ask questions at the close of the lesson. When listening 
to a speaker, Professor James has found that it helps us to give 
attention to repeat the speaker's words as he says them. 

Professor Hewett has given us seven excellent rules for 
gaining attention. They are (i) Look the pupils squarely in 
the eye. (2) Say nothing until you have the attention of your 
class; stop, if you lose it. (3) Talk slowly and clearly. (4)^ 
Say a thing but once. (5) Hold the pupils strictly responsible 
for what you have said. (6) Do not put questions to your 
class in a fixed order; propound the question then name a 
pupil to answer it. Do this habitually, (7) When the class 
need such discipline, stop the one who is reading or reciting, 
in the middle of a sentence, and require another to begin exact- 
ly where he left off. 

Read: - ■ 

Hughes' Securing and Retaining Attention, Krohn's Practical 
Lessons in Psychology, Chapter XVHI, Parker's Talks on 
Pedagogics, Chapter VI, James' Psychology (Brief Course),, 
Chapter XHI, and Gordy's Psychology, Chapter VHL 



72 Practical Child Study. 

MEMORY. 

DEFINITIONS : The power which the mind has to repro- 
duce its own former states is called memory. — Roark}^ Memory 
is that representative power which brings before the mind con- 
cepts of absent objects as they are or were, and recognizes 
them. — Hewctt} Memory is the knowledge of a former mental 
state after it has already dropped out of consciousness. — Krohn? 
Memory maybe defined as the power of the soul to represent 
and know objects previously known or experienced. — Whiter' 
Memory is the knowledge of an event, or fact, of which mean- 
time we have not been thinking, with the additional conscious- 
ness that we have thought or experienced it h&ioxQ..—]ames}^ 
Memory as a faculty is both the capacity to retain and the 
power to recall, represent, and recognize our previous condi- 
tions, — ScJmylery 

IMPORTANCE : To be educated means, for one thing, to 
have the capacity to summon all one's knowledge of any fact, 
and to summon it quickly. 

Soundness of judgment without a fair developed memory 
is impossible. To have a fine logical memory and a poor mind 
is an impossibility. — Gordy? A moment's reflection will con- 
vince us that no power of mind is of more value than memory. 
— Hewett} The value of a retentive memory is mcalculable. It 
is simply absurd to claim that the power to recall weakens 
the power to create. Many of the greatest intellects have been 
men of extraordinary memories. — Patrick!' The value of 
memory in relation to the understanding of facts and the prac- 
tical application of knowledge should never be lost sight of. — 
Sully! 



Small figures refer to list of books on pa^e 2. 



Practical Child Study. 73 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS: There is no royal road to a 
good memory. All the new "schemes" have failed, so we must 
go back and cultivate the memory just as wise men did of old. 
This always has and always will be true, — good observation, 
good attention ; good attention, good memory. A healthy 
mind in a healthy body ; a vivid first impression ; clear, ac- 
curate reviews ; clear, logical associations, — if these conditions 
exist you simply can't forget. 

To train the memory, the value of reviews and associations 
cannot be ov'=^r-estimated. Other things equal, of two persons, 
the one who thinks over his ideas most, and weaves them into 
systematic relations with one another, will be the man with 
the best memory. The greater the number of other ideas an 
idea is connected with in the mind, the better it will be re- 
membered. If we wish a child to remember an idea, we should 
present it to him through as many avenues as possible — sight, 
hearing, touch, etc. Let him read about it, see a picture of it, 
hear some one tell about it, and if possible feel of it. A child 
remembers what he does many times better than what he 
sees, hears, or reads. It has now been fairly well estab- 
lished that in teaching another language, more than 
three times as rapid progress can be made by learning 
from pictures as from merely placing the words of 
one's own language and the words of the foreign language side 
"by side. How much quicker will a child learn the word vest 
(or any other word) if the word and picture are placed side 

by side? 

Read : 

Gordy's Psychology, chapter XX.; Krohn's Practical Lessons 
in Psychology, chapter XX. ; Roark's Psychology in Edu- 
cation, chapter VII., and Scripture's Thinking, Feeling, 
Doing, chapter XVIII. 



74 Practical Child Study. 

IMAGINATION. 

DEFINITIONS : Memory reproduces imagination, modi- 
lies, combines, creates. — Roark.^^ Imagination is the power to 
modify and recombine the products of memory. — Whiter' Im- 
agination is the power of self purposely to put his experiences- 
into new forms. — Baldiuhu^^ Imagination is the representation 
of an ideal object. — Patrick!" The power of the mind to form 
ideas of things not present is called imagination. — Gordy.'' 
When the mental pictures are of data freely combined, and re- 
produce no past combination exactly, we have acts of the imag- 
ination properly so called. — James-^^ Imagination is the power 
to recombine and construct anew materials furnished by ex- 
perience. — Porter. Imagination is the power to work our ex- 
periences into new forms. — Sidly.^ 

IMPORTANCE : Every extension of our knowledge be- 
yond the domain of personal experience and observation, in- 
volves some degree of imaginative activity. Have you ever 
seriously thought of the actual fact that what is known as 
understanding a teacher's description depends upon the success 
of the pupil's imaginative effort? — Krolm.^ If it were not for 
imagination, improvements in the arts and sciences, and there- 
fore in the general condition of peoples, would be due wholly to- 
zccident.—Roark.^^ Culture of imagination immeasurably in- 
creases human achievement and human happiness. — Baldwrn-^^ 
A man of philosophic intellect must have a vigorous imagina- 
tion. . . . By imagination we are enabled, as it were, to 
place ourselves in the situation of others, and to sympathize 
with them in their distress, or to participate in their sorrow, 
— Tate. The imagination is a most powerful auxiliary in the 
development of the mind and will. — Adler. 



Practical Child Study. 75 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS : Imagination has been 
divided into various phases and kinds. We will consider the 
constructive or creative phase, or that phase which takes the 
parts of a number of objects, puts them together, and makes a 
new object from them. For example, a hat trimmer sees the 
pretty parts of a number of different hats. She puts all these 
parts together, sees in her imagination how they will look, 
knows from her ideal hat if the parts harmonize, and if it 
will pay to cut up goods to make a real hat like her imagined 
one. This same illustration may be used for the carpenter, the 
artist, the cabinet maker, the tinner, the designer, or- the arti- 
san of any kind. Is imagination of any practical value? 

Among others, there are four quite distinct kinds or types 
of imagination — (i) Visual or sight, (2) tactile or touch, (3) 
auditory or hearing, and (4) motor or movement. If a child 
sees how a word would look if the letters were changed he 
has visual imagination. If he can imagine how the paper would 
feel if harder, softer, or damper, he has tactile imagination. 
If he can imagine how the word would sound with the sylla- 
bles changed, he has auditory imagination. If he can imagine 
how it would feel to write the word, he may be said to have 
motor imagination. 

To the painter, the dressmaker, or the ordinary artisan, 
visual imagination is of great value ; and to the musician, 
auditory imagination is indispensible. 

In training the imagination, it should be born in mind 
that observation and memory supply the material upon which 
it must build its ideals. Observation and memory are built of 
material furnished by surroundings, associates, and reading. 
If these are good the ideals will be good ; but if these are low 
and impure, his ideals must be low and impure. 



76 Practical Child Study. 

Reading forms the principal means by which the teacher 
can cultivate the imagination, and teachers are beginning to 
realize that it is of as much importance to teach what to read 
as to teach how to read. We find nine out of ten of our pupils 
follow the course of reading that we suggest to them. 

The value of Fairy Tales should not be underestimated. 
As Max Adlersays, "As they follow the progress of the story, 
the young listeners are constantly called upon to place them- 
selves in situations in which they have never been, to 
imagine trials, dangers, difficulties, such as they have never ex- 
perienced, to reproduce in themselves, for instance, such feel- 
ings as that of being alone in the wide world, of being sepa. 
rated from father's and mother's love, of being hungry and 
without bread, exposed to enemies, without protection, etc." 
But above Fairy Tales stand History and Biography. "They 
bring under our notice characters which transcend in grandeur 
the greatest of the works of nature— its mountains and its vales, 
its streams, its cataracts, and its precipices. Those who would 
train the mind to its highest capacity must furnish to the 
young the records of deeds of heroism, of benevolence, of self- 
sacrifice, of courage to resist the evil and maintain the good." 
In History and Biography, we may live with kings, queens, 
philosophers, and the good, and wise of all ages. 

In short, to train the imagination, so that it will be a great, 
resistless power for good we must have (i) pure, wholesome 
surroundings, (2) true, good, intelligent companions, (3) read- 
ing matter from the best, purest, life-giving authors, (4) clear, 
accurate perception and observation, (5) strong, accurate 
memory, (6) encouragement to form ideals of the beautiful, the 
good, and the true, (7) stimulating, if sluggish, but restraining, 
if over active. 

Read 
Chapters VI. and VII. of Adler's "Moral Training of Children." 
Chapter XXI. of Krohn's "Practical Lessons in Psychology." 
Pages 106-108 Welch's "How to Study." 
Chapter XVI, Roark's "Psychology in Education." 



Practical Child Study. 77 



REASONING, 



DEFINITIONS : Judgment is the power to discern agree- 
ment or disagreement of ideas. — Baldtvin}'^ Reasoning is the 
power to unite two judgments in a new judgment. — Wundt. 
A judgment is a decision that a certain relation exists between 
two objects of thought. — Schuyler.'^'' Reasoning is the power to 
discern agreement or disagreement of judgments. ^ — Porter. 
Judgment is the ability to predicate one idea of another. — 
Sully.* To judge, if the word be correctly understood in the 
-general sense which is given it in pedagogy, is to separate the 
true from the false in all things. It is to possess that accuracy 
of mind which regulates the opinions and governs the actions 
of good and enlightened men. — Compayre.'^^ Reason is the 
power to derive conclusions from premises. — Stilly-^ Reason- 
ing is the elimination of the middle term in a syllogism. — Boole. 
In reasoning although our results may be thought of as concrete 
things they are not suggested by other concrete things, as in 
trains of simply associated thought. They are linked to con- 
crete which precedes them by intermediate steps, and these steps 
are formed by abstract general characters articulately denoted 
and expressly analyzed out. — Janies-^^ 

IMPORTANCE : Judgment is the essential act of the in- 
telhgence, and the culture of the judgment is the crowning point 
of intellectual education. — Compayre.^^ Since the operations of 
judgment and reasoning are the highest forms of thinking, it is 
the purpose of a systematic education to give these faculties 
their highest culture. — Welch.^^ Since our business, our poli- 



Small figures refer to list of books on page 2. 



7? Practical Child Study. 

tics, our religion, our daily conduct in all lines of activity ia 
which we may be engaged, are based on our conclusions, it is 
evident that the habit of reasoning rapidly and accurately should 
be formed early and thoroughly. — Roark^*" Avery good working 
definition of education is the development of the attitude of the 
soul towards truth. That attitude can be cultivated only by the 
self activity of the mind with unprejudiced judgment, intent oa 
the direct discovery of truth. — Parker. ^"^ 

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS : We use the word reason 
in its popular sense, that is to mean judgment, thought, or 
"common sense." We have not the space to say anything 
about implicit and explicit reasoning. Professor Krolm, in 
"Practical Lessons in Psychology," has told it in finer style 
than we could if we tried ever so long. But inductive and de- 
ductive reasoning should be distinguished. To put it in as few 
words as possible, inductive reasoning is that kind used when, 
after finding that some fact is common (that is belongs) to a 
sufficient number of individual objects, we conclude that it be- 
longs to every one of that entire class of objects. Deductive 
reasoning is that kind used when we take it for granted that a 
quality or attribute belongs to the class, and hence conclude 
that it belongs to one of the class. Inductive reasoning is that- 
kind used in the natural sciences, while deductive is that kind 
used in geometry. 

Quick, accurate reasoning depends upon, (i) close, accurate 
observation, (/;) accumulation of a sufficient number of facts, 
(3) the power to see quickly and accurately just where and how 
these facts have a bearing on the subject. Thus we see that 
the power to reason well is a natural and sure growth from ob- 
servation, memory, and imagination, provided these be well 
trained. 



Practical Child Study. . 79 

It is commonly thought that arithmetic is the all important 
study to train the reasoning faculties, but, as now generally 
taught, it does little or nothing in this direction. Professor 
Krohn thinks Physical Geography is the best study to train the 
reasoning powers, and it certainly is a good one. That idea 
does not contradict Professor Ricks who says : "Properly pre- 
sented no lessons are so interesting and attractive to children 
as those which deal with living plants and animals ; and none 
are more effective in the cultivation of habits of exact observa- 
tion, accurate comparison, and sound reasoning." 

Let a child form the habit of justifying whatever he says. 
Even allow him to expose himself to error, that he may be 
shown wherein he has failed in observing, collecting a sufficient 
number of facts, or judging. This will be one of his most 
valuable lessons. His loose, careless statements should be re- 
proved, not only as poor English, but as laying the foundation 
for poor reasoning and even lying. Traijiing to reason means 
more than answering questions, the child must be questioned as 
to the reason or cause for things. Such questions if properly 
asked set children to thinking, raise new problems in their 
minds, and may lead them to see that everything has its cause, 
and so stimulate their minds to the highest action of which they 
are capable. 

Enough has now been said to show that while we have 
treated the mental faculties separately, yet they are so inter- 
linked that to cultivate one is to cultivate all. The mental fac- 
ulties are not only dependent upon each other, but they are so 
dependent upon health, hearing, and sight that for any of 
these to be in a perfect condition, the others must be in a 
sound healthy state. 



8o Practical Child Study. 



SELF CONTROL. 

Self control (in psychology, called "voluntary motor abil- 
ity"), is the power to make the body act just as the mind wills 
it shall act. It is the power to control one's actions, to ener- 
gize one's powers, and to put down one's evil desires and ten- 
dencies. It is, "Thought entering the hands and feet and con- 
trolling the movements of the body." 

Accuracy is honesty's twin brother. "If a man can write a 
better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse- 
trap than his neighbor," says Emerson, "though he build his 
house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his 
door. Give a boy address and accomplishments, and you give 
him the mastery of palaces and fortunes." 

There is no calling that does not require the muscles to 
obey the mind. One girl breaks four times as many dishes as 
another. Why ? Because her hands did not hold on, or did 
not set it where she should have ordered it set. One person 
makes a botch of everything. He knows how, but can't do it,, 
because his muscles just won't do what he should be 
able to tell them to do. To the stenographer, the typesetter,, 
the violin and the piano player, the penman, and the dressmaker, 
accuracy and rapidity are absolutely necessary to proficiency. 
How much would an inaccurate blacksmith, mechanic, carpen- 
ter, draughtsman, or chemist get to do? "Each act is the 
stone and mortar of your character, and the energy expended 
shapes the edifice. Right expenditure of energy will give 
beauty of action. Every voluntary movement of the body is au 
index of the thought that gives it birth."* . 

♦Welch's How to Study. 



Practical Child Sthdy. 8i 

Educators owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Scripture of Yale, 
for many experiments of great value to education. The follow- 
ing is one of them. It is quoted from his article on "The Edu- 
cation of Muscular Control and Power "* : 

MUSCULA-R CONTROL. 

'Tn undertaking the experiments on muscular control, two 
questions were proposed : i. Can steadiness of movement be 
increased by practice? 2. If so, is such increase confined to 
the muscles immediately trained, or, as in the case of discrimin- 
ating sensitiveness of the skin, are the corresponding muscles 
in the opposite half of the body affected?" 

The first, test of steadiness, consisted of putting a needle 
into a hole o. 1285 in. in diameter. "The vertical metal plate 
containing the hole was placed directly in front of the observer ; 
the right fore-arm was rested on the edge of the table, the stick 
was grasped like a pencil and by a steady movement of the hand 
and wrist the [stick's] metal point was inserted in the hole. 
Any contact of the point against the side of the hole was counted 
as an error. 

"The first set consisted of 20 experiments with the left 
hand ; the result was 50 per cent, of successful trials. Imme- 
diately thereafter 20 experiments were made with the right hand, 
with a result of 60 per cent, of successful trials. On the follow- 
ing day and on each successive day two hundred experiments 
[same person] were taken with the right hand, the same condi- 
tions in regard to time, bodily condition and position in making 
the experiments being maintained as far as possible. The per 
centage of successful trials ran as follows : 61, 64, 65, 75, 74, 
75, 82, 79, 78, 88. 



♦Studies Irom Yale Psychological Laboratory, vol. ii. 



82 Practical Child Study, 

''On the loth day the left hand was tested \Yith 20 experi- 
ments as before, with 76 per cent, of successful trials, thus show- 
ing an increase of 26 per cent, without practice in the time 
duing which the right hand gained, as shown by the figures 
above, 28 per cent. 

"That the increase of steadiness was not due to mere train- 
ing of the muscles is shown by the increase of steadiness in the 
unpracticed left hand. That it was due to a training of atten- 
tion seems to be indicated by the following facts : i. After a 
week's practice it was possible by special effort of attention to 
insert the needle into the hole successfully [without touching 
the sides] for any given ten times. 2. Any distraction of at- 
tention due to noises or other disturbances invariably lowered 
the per cent, of steadiness. 3. Either bodily or mental fatigue 
lowered the result. 

"As to the effect of different directions of attention: con- 
centration upon the muscular movement to be performed was 
unfavorable, fixation of attention upon the objective point to be 
reached by the needle was productive of the best results. 
Fatigue of the muscles of the eye was a more noticeable result 
than fatigue of the muscles directly practiced. To obviate this 
it was necessary to close the eyes for a few seconds between 
each series of ten experiments. 

"From the results of these two thousand experiments the 
following conclusions seem justified : 

"I. Steadiness of movement can be increased by practice. 

"2. This increase of steadiness is not limited to the con- 
trol of the muscles immediately trained, but affects the control 
of the corresponding muscles on the opposite side of the body. 



Practical Child Study. - 85 

"3. This training seems to be a psychical [mental] rather 
than a physical [muscular] order, and to lie principally in steadi- 
ness of attention. " 

MUSCULAR POWER. 

In this experiment an appar-atus for measuring and register- 
ing automatically, muscular power, was used.* On March 7th, 
the left hand averaged 29.6 units, and the right hand 28.8 units. 
The left hand was tried no more until the 20th day of March, 
but the right hand was exercised on the apparatus each day with 
the following results: 28.8, 33.7, 35,6, 36.6, 40.9,44.7,47.0, 
48.8, 48.6, and the left hand on the 20th, 42.3. That is, while 
the right hand by being used every day gained 19.8 units in 
strength, the left hand without being used at all gained 12.7. 

These experiments seem to justify conclusions similar to 
those for "Muscular Control," quoted above, especially i and 2. 

"Gracefulness in voluntary action is the proper adjustment 
of rapidity and extent of movement ; it is almost entirely a 
psychotogical [mental] affair. Gracefulness is the condition 
sine ^z^(^ ?z(?« [indispensable] for the artist, the decorator, the 
orator, the actor, the dancer, and every society man and woman. 
By education we usually mean the word cram and mind-defor- 
mation that characterize many of our public schools, whereas 
we ought to include every lesson, exercise, game, play, sport, 
or occupation that develops and improves our mental and bodily 
powers. There is as much education in playing (not watching) 
a game of football as in constructing a book of Virgil. Who 
will say that training in rhythmic action and gracefulness shall 
not have place in school beside percentage and syntax? The 
close connection that has arisen between the psychological 
laboratory and the gymnasium is an event whose importance 

For full description, see studies from Yale Psychological Laboratory. 



84 Practical Child Study. 

cannot be fully forseen. The education of men, instead of book-^ 
worms and mummies, will perhaps find, as it found in Greece, 
one of its chief exponents in the nieyital and physical training of 
the gymnasium."* 

We think the primary object of education is to so train 
the head that it will guide the hand to make those movements 
and only those, which will be the most beneficial. Teach a child 
self control and you teach him something that will last, some- 
thing that will count for good in future life, something that will 
help him to become a thoughtful, helpful, law abiding citizen. 
Discipline should be individual, each controlling himself, and 
every school exercise should be, in part, a means to this end. 
Unless we control ourselves others will control us. Every act 
should be a definite act. The whole life should be under direct 
control of the will. The time to sleep, the time to get up, the 
time to begin, the time to quit, our efforts, our appetites, our 
passions, our desires, all should be controlled by the will. 

Self control gives beauty to the body and its movements. 
And we must contend that beauty is wealth to the owner. 
Intellect is not the only ornament of man. Did God make 
man after his own image to see that image neglected, or 
marred and marked by our greed for gold or social position ? 
It is a great mistake to ignore personal beauty. Others have 
not done so. The Greeks deified and then worshipped it. 
It has conquered rulers of great nations. It has been painted 
on canvass and cut in stone. If properly used, it makes one 
a happier individual, a dearer companion, of more use to 
humanity, and nearer like the image of his Maker. 

*Dr. Scripture. 



Practical Child Study. 85, 



SENSE OF RIGHT. 

We use this term to mean the condition of the child's 
moral nature. Some one has said, "Man has three skylights 
through which he is looking heavenward — the physical, the 
intellectual, and the moral." We have now come to consider 
the last of these. Here the home plays a part that cannot be 
overestimated. The few hours that the child spends in the 
school may do much, but they cannot entirely counteract home 
influence. The good home is an ally, the bad home an enemy 
to the school's work in moral training. 

That moral education is the most important of all educa- 
tion is readily admitted, yet in trying to avoid sectarian instruc- 
tion, we have come or nearly come to where we have no moral 
instruction. It cannot be we forget that by attending to the 
moral education of the children and youth who gather in our 
public schools for instruction, it is possible for the teachers to 
do the state and the future a service surpassing everything 
ever gained by legislation or war. The great lesson of history, 
the downfall of all the great states, began in the decay of moral 
character and the destruction of the domestic ties. But this 
is a practical age. "If a thing is not practical it is not worth 
striving after." Is moral education practical ? Moral educa- 
tion increases man's productive ability in two ways ; it enables 
him to do better work, and it gives him a longer time in which 
to work. 



86 Practical Child Study. 

We here much of what arithmetic will do for the reason- 
ing faculties, georgaphy for imagination, eta Let us have the 
opinion of no less an authority than Pres. Stanley Hall, the 
father of American Child Study : 

"In learning to read, there are a limited number of com- 
binations of the twenty-six letters. In learning to read the 
dye would tint a very small area of the brain, a limited num- 
ber of cells and fibres. It would not be a serious loss, so far 
as the awakening of brain areas is concerned, if a child never 
learned to read. Charlemagne could not read, and he had 
quite an influence upon the world's history and was a fairly 
brainy man. Learning the deaf mute finger language would 
color about as large an area as learning to read. So would 
learning to play the piano. 

''Writing is not of great educational value. Its tinting of 
the brain area would be slight. The learning of shorthand 
would awaken about five times as much of this area, and be 
proportionately effective in bram development. Typewriting 
and telegraphy are also more useful in this regard than writing, 
and even a system of gesture is as valuable. 

"In arithmetic, the multiplication table has about 842 com- 
binations. Experiments have been tried in having purely 
senseless combinations memorized, and a child will learn three 
times as many of these meaningless combinations, and remem- 
ber them as well, as he will the multiplication table. To 
memorize two pages of ordinary print is as valuable in brain 
development as to memorize this table. An entire course of 
elementary or grammar school arithmetic, in the mechanics 
thereof, requires but ^bout three times as much mental devel- 
opment as the learning of the multiplicaiion table. 



Practical Child Study. Sj' 

"In _^6'c?^/'<?//^j, a careful study has been made of the ordi- 
nary course in a grammar school, and the entire probable array 
of facts that will be learned and held in mind ; and the hack- 
man who knows half the streets in Boston has as much know- 
ledge and brain development as the child that has taken a 
course in geography. 

"There are upwards of 300 trades and industries in which 
ordinary men and women are engaged, and any one of these 
awakens as large an area of the brain and secures as much 
brain development as an entire course in reading, writing, ar- 
ithmetic, and geography. Many of these are of much greater 
value. 

"This mechanical learning of the regulation branches was 
for a long time the chief work of the school, and it affected a 
slight brain area. When the objective work came in its best 
form, the area awakened, strengthened and developed, was in- 
creased about threefold, and with the introduction of manual 
training in all its departments of Sloyd, cooking, sewing, and 
drawing, the tvill areas were reached, and five times as much 
area was awakened as in the mechanical. These areas literally 
grow, so long as there is earnest study that affects them. 

"Even now, less than one-half of the areas of the brain are 
awakened by those who take a full American university course. 
The basal, automatic, sympathetic areas are wholly unprovided 
for in any curriculum. 

"Religion, directly and indirectly, would influence vast areas 
that are now wholly fallow. No virtues of the secular school 
system can atone for the absence of all religious cultivation. 
We have much to learn from the Catholic church in this re- 
gard. The Catholic church is strong where we are weak, 
namely, in the worship of the saints. We have allowed our 



88 Practical Child Study. 

prejudices to deprive us of one of the grandest features of brain 
awakening and mental development in this matter of saints. 
It is no sufficient answer that they do not get from the study- 
all they might. There are at least sixty-three large books de- 
voted to the saints of the Catholic church, while there are but 
three discoverable that attempt a similar work with Protestant 
children in schools or Sunday-schools. 

"Our Sunday-schools and theirs ought to study pedagogics. 
The home leaves the child to the school for his mental train- 
ing, and to the Sunday-school for his religious culture, and 
neither are equal to the demands placed upon them. This is 
especially true of the Sunday-school." 

The emotional life conditions the intellectual. Religion is, 
and has always been, the center of life. It always will be. 
There is no more interesting branch of Child Study than the 
investigation of children's ideas of right and wrong. 

A teacher in Nebraska told a story to her pupils of a little 
girl whose baby brother had broken her doll, and asked them 
to tell how they thought the little girl felt, what she said, and 
did. Out of 339 children, 178 would have been sorry, 56 would 
have felt bad, and only 55 would have felt angry ; 146 would 
have made some such remark as, "Oh, you naughty boy." 
Another story — one of rivalry — was given, and the children 
asked to tell what they thought the injured boy felt, and what 
he said to his rival when the dishonorable act was found out. 
Of 320 children, 235 thought he felt sorry and bad, while 34 
answered, angry. 191 thought he told the teacher, 24 thought 
he hit his rival, and 7 would have retaliated by the same 
act. Another teacher asked the pupils to write lists of things 
considered by them wrong. 700 answers were written by 



Practical Child Study. 8g 

children from the second to the eighth grade, inclusive. Steal- 
ing was given the greatest number of times. Murder was 
named by 26, nineteen of whom were class-mates of a girl 
whose brother recently committed suicide. Stealing, lying, 
swearing, drinking, using tobacco, whispering, etc., were given. 

Those who have observed children, collected data, and 
sifted the matter as carefully as possible, have concluded that 
there are three causes of children's lying. First, just as he 
bats his eyes, so he may lie to shield himself from some harm 
or pain ; second, his imagination may be so vivid that he can- 
not tell fact from fiction. If we think hard, we may find in our 
lives some incident where fact and fiction blend. Third, he 
may lie from imitation — taught it at home. If this be true, 
and if lying is typical of all of a child's moral actions, then what 
a mistake for teacher or parent to deal with these little 
people as if they were morally responsible. Why not, if pos- 
sible, remove the cause ? Have we not all imposed penalties 
upon children, thinking them guilty, when they were merely 
and innocently ignorant, when we were more ignorant and 
guilty than they? How important that teachers should know 
what a child really is. To give another illustration of where 
we often blame when we should pity, I will quote from Dr. 
Krohn's article on "The Most Critical Period of School Life ": 

" Mental similarity between boys and girls disappears at 
the coming of young womanhood or young manhood. Indi- 
vidual characteristics and idiosyncrasies then begin to spring 
up. As Clouston puts it, 'In the male sex the mental develop- 
ment takes the direction of energizing, of cognition, of duty ; 
in the female sex the mental development is in the direction 
of emotion, of the protective instincts, of a craving for admira- 



90 Practical Child Study. 

tion and worship, of the mental creation of an ideal hero.' Of 
course these mental changes do not take place all at once in 
either sex. 

Furthermore, there is no question but that it is during 
the period of pubescence and at the onset of early adolescence 
that the greatest of the hereditary qualities come out and the 
most dangerous of the hereditary defects manifest themselves. 
During this period nature is striving with all her might to 
evolve a perfect organism. At such a time the hereditary 
influences, the transmitted tendencies, that all the former 
generations have bestowed, manifest themselves in th-e most 
pronounced forms and come into their fullest existence in the 
youth or maiden. It is at this time that one suffers most for 
the sins of their ancestors. Medical authorities also seem to 
agree that nervous diseases, especially in the higher centers — 
the more subtle brain diseases — and also mental peculiarities, 
unquestionably select the onset of adolescence or thetime near 
the close of pubescence for their first real appearance. On the 
threshold of life and vigor, there is always thus a liability of a 
temporary break down and even of total collapse. 

"Now, what are some of the symptoms of me?iial disturb- 
ance at this time of life ? One of the most annoying and per- 
plexing of these mental disturbances is the one which -assumes 
the form of exaggerated defiance of school authority, a like 
defiance of parental control, a morbid 'self-will.' Moral re- 
straints, p^^ysical coercion, the assertion of rightful authority 
on the part of parent or teacher, the various punishments — all 
these are set at naught, and we hear it said of such children 
that 'nothing can be done with them' during such attacks. 
Tliey are the despair and distress, the great perpetual bugbear 



Practical Child Study. 91 

of parents, guardians, teachers, and school-officers. They will 
not get up in the morning nor will they do any work, and, as 
Clouston states, they will do daring acts of destruction — tear 
books, break furniture, threaten violence to themselves and 
others, contract debts for parent or guardian by purchasing all 
sorts of useless articles without any money to pay for them, 
or they leave home without any reason, take to purposeless 
deceit and lying, do scandalous things with bravado, and withal 
give the impression to others that they could help doing such 
things if they but wanted to do so, 

"Great anxiety would be saved to parents and teachers if 
these morbid characteristics of children in our homes and 
schools were regarded in the light of brain disturbances, when 
this is actually the case, and such children should be treated 
from the very first upon the basis of the principles laid down 
by the pathologist. The usual harsh treatment, the various 
punishments seldom, if ever, do any good in such cases and 
often do much harm. The best thing to do for such a child 
is to take him temporarily from school, sending him from 
home for a time into the country under kind and firm com- 
panionship and in some cases even with medical supervision. 
Much exercise in the fresh air should be taken, and a large 
quantity of milk and other unstimulating but fattening food 
should be given such a boy or girl. 

"It would not be out of place for us to briefly note some 
of the characteristics of attention during this period. We all 
know that the chief point for the teacher to keep in mind is the 
necessity of some activity of attention on the part of the child 
from the very first and in every operation. No amount of 
skilled adroitness, no amount of persevering patience will be 
of the least avail unless the child's attention, the sine qua 1107& 

*The most important thing. 



92 Practical Child Study. 

of every act of learning, is secured. When there is attention 
the child's mind is working upon the subject presented by the 
teacher. So far as any educational relation is concerned 
where there is no attention the teacher might as well be 
asking questions from one of the remotest corners of the 
earth, and the child might as well be reading his " answers 
in the stars." No isolation on hermit isle can compare with 
the isolation of the non-attentive pupil. No separation of in- 
dividuals, separation either in time or space, or both, is like 
unto the separation between teacher and pupil when the latter 
is not attending to the subject matter of the teacher's presen- 
tation. The work of securing attention from any pupil de- 
pends, to a certain extent, upon the patience and tact of the 
teacher. But it depends still more upon certain psychological 
and physiological principles that can be applied only by the 
child himself. 

" Pri?iciple I. The act of attention demands mental effort. 
Ideas, if left to themselves, flow on without any real order, be- 
ing governed by the principle of association. Under such cir- 
cumstances we have that most annoying, perplexing and 
troublesome trial of the teacher — the mi7id-zva?ideri7ig pupil. 
It requires no mental effort to let the mind wander ; it does 
require mental energy to interfere with these aimless, rambling 
mental associations — in other words, to produce attention. 
Now, I am compelled to contend, on the basis of facts gained 
by no small amount of observation, that both the boy and girl 
during the period of pubescence are less capable of making 
this mental effort than they are at any other period of their 
lives in school. The boy or girl during this most critical period 
of development is possessed of a large amount of natural inertia 
•which is difficult to overcome. He cannot, unless carefully 



Practical Child Study, 93 

^coached,' be made to manifest an active, vigorous, energetic 
habit of mind. 

'■'Principle II. Persistence of the attentive interest is abso- 
lutely essential to a successful issue in the endeavor to learn. 
The scattering of the mental forces, is, if not the greatest, one 
•of the greatest foes of attention. You have often times seen 
the non-attentive school-boy. One moment he attempts to 
^ork his problems ; the next moment he takes up his history ; 
then he must try his hand at penmanship ; then he becomes 
thirsty and must have a drink ; or he must look up a word in 
the dictionary ; then he must speak to a fellow-pur>il ; next, 
perhaps, he borrows a knife ; and so on, a continuously inter- 
rupted round of activities. Such a child is being robbed of the 
most essential element of personality, namely, self-control or 
self-direction. In the strict sense such a child is not 2i person, 
he is merely a log drifting down the stream of time, a rudder- 
less bark moving hither and thither by the wind of other men's 
breath. Now this dissipation of interest, which, next to mental 
laziness, is the greatest obstacle in the work of instruction, is 
very characteristic of both boy and girl during the years 
that usher in young manhood or womanhood. 

''Principle III. Counterfeit attention must not be per- 
mitted, and yet, often during this critical period, do boys and 
girls manifest the outward form and attitude of attention while 
the mind is utterly out of connection with the subject pre- 
sented by the teacher. They are of those who, having eyes, 
see not, and having ears, hear not. Or, my boy and girl friend 
may go so far as to give sufficient attention to grasp clearly 
the conception of the lesson as a whole. Such a pupil may 
comprehend the separate steps in the demonstration of a prob- 
lem, yet fail to grasp either the problem itself or its demon- 



94 Practical Child Study. 

stration as an entirety, because he can not bring to bear upon 
either the problem or the demonstration the higher power of 
attention that guarantees a mastery of the situation. 

"There is one further point, fellow teachers and friends,, 
which I would like to submit for your consideration. Learn- 
ing by heart is specially characteristic of this period of pu- 
bescence in both the boy and girl. You know that the pro- 
cess of memorizing is seriously faulty for various reasons : 

1. Learning by heart leaves the mind passive, for what 
is learned is impressed upon the mind, and not produced by the 
mind's self-activity. 

2. The mind, by not manifesting this self-activity, but 
passive and only receivmg impressions, is burdened by what it 
remembers. 

3. The senses, rather than the whole mind as an energiz- 
ing power, being employed, the habit of mind-wandering is- 
induced. We should remember in our endeavor to develop 
the child rationally that memory is to be /or/«^^ rather than 
filled. The idea that learning by heart improves memory is a 
great illusion. Experiment certainly shows that things me- 
chanically disappear from memory. Simply learning by heart 
should be most mercilessly condemned. 

"To sum up the whole problem, let me say that in all 
learning two equally essential features are involved : Proper 
presentation of the material by the teacher, and proper attitude of 
mind on the part of the pupil. Seldom, if ever, can the second 
feature be supplied by the boy or girl in the midst of the 
mental and physical evolutions and revolutions of pubescence. 
Need we proceed further into our subject in order to show 



Practical Child Study. 95 

that the development of the mental faculties during the years 
that usher in young manhood or womanhood are of the most 
universal and intense interest? 

"Now what remedial agencies may be employed to over- 
come some of the more serious disadvantages of the pubescent 
stage — disadvantages that are peculiarly great in the case of 
the boy at this critical period. Three remedies have been 
suggested : 

"I. As proposed by Dr, Bayard Holmes and others, there 
should be separation of boys and girls in the public schools 
during the period of prepubertal acceleration, with male teach- 
ers for the boys, and female teachers for the girls. Earle 
Barnes, of Leland Stanford Junior University, has suggested 
that the difficulty which so many boys have with their teachers 
in the sixth and subsequent grades of the public school, is due 
to their unrecognized oncOiTiing sexuality. The utter ignor- 
ance of the fact of the natural superiority of girls aged twelve 
to sixteen, both mentally and physically, over boys of the same 
age— ignorance manifested alike by parent and teacher — is 
almost criminal. 

"11. The boys and girls may remain side by side during 
their public school life, but should have their latent mental 
energies appealed to quite differently. The peculiar aptitudes 
and defects of both boys and girls should be respectively recog- 
nized. For example, at the age of oncoming pubescence the 
average boy is not given to detail. He cannot tell the day of 
battles, the number of men engaged, the number killed and 
wounded, while the girl of the same age (about fourteen) in 
the same history class will have a mania for such detail. These 
sexual peculiarities should be considered by the teacher in as- 
signing tasks for study and in questioning during recitation. 



96 Practical Child Study. 

"III. Physical Exercise and Manual Training. Nothing 
is of so much avail in dealing with both boy and girl during 
this most critical period of school life as judicious physical 
exercise — physical culture in its true sense. The manual train- 
ing departments of our best schools are the safety valve of 
many boys at this stage of school life, and cause them to be 
tided over the critical period without perceptible harm. The 
vigorous games of football, baseball, and also track athletics 
have saved many a boy to the schools until his course is cred- 
itably completed. The girl is less fortunate, for as soon as she 
begins to be»a girl she must begin to be "proper." Physical 
trailing is as necessary to the girl at this period as it is to the 
boy, but how seldom she receives it. For the sake of the best 
development of girls we should encourage them as they essay 
tennis, rowing, golf, hand-ball, or even the bicycle. We should 
not regard these as mere human innovations, but as necessary 
items in the general scheme of Providence for the betterment 
of the race. The school of the future will give every encour- 
agement to physical training under competent instructors. 
Both pupils and teachers need systematic physical exercise as 
they need food ; every artery should be filled witn fresh blood, 
every muscle should be invigorated by means of the proper 
movements, every nerve and brain cell should also be rejuve- 
nated by means of healthful physical activity."* 

The means for giving moral culture are unlimited, and 
there is no doubt but the public school, in many respects, is far 
superior to the private tutor. 

The following moral aids, regularity, punctuality, silence^ 
and industry, are indispensable to any well regulated schooL 



♦Child Study Monthly, June 1595 



Practical Child Study. 97 

In addition to these, example, punishment, play, and reading 
are some of the means by which the teacher may give moral 
culture. 

For a treatment of example the reader is referred to Page's 
"Theory and Practice," White's "School Management," Pat- 
rick's "Practical Pedagogics," or Compayre's Lectures. 

The efficiency of corporal punishment is questioned. It 
seems, nevertheless, to be nature's way of teaching children, 
but before resorting to it the teacher should answer questions 
like these : Will this punishment be an atonement for the 
offence committed ? Will it build up the child, within ? Will 
the child by, this punishment, be led to feel that the incon- 
venience, discomfort, pain, or disgrace is the natural conse- 
quence of the wrong deed ? Will it make him a better child ? 
Will it lead him to see that no sin or wrong-doing can be com- 
mitted that does not bring its own punishment ? Will it enable 
him to always associate some form of punishment with every 
evil act ? 

For a "natural consequence" punishment, take this as an 
example : A boy, neglectful of instruction, left his ink bottle 
on the desk ; it was knocked off, and the ink spilled on the 
floor. "I am sorry," said the teacher, "it will take you some 
time to clean it up. Here is a cloth and some sand-paper ; 
wipe it as well as you can, then, after it is dry, rub off the stain 
with the sand-paper." Of course it was a humiliating job, but 
at length it was finished. "I hope Eddie will not be so care- 
less again," remarked the teacher. "I never will," he replied, 
and his ink found a place in the desk after that. Another ex- 
ample : A teacher made the rule that each one seen whis- 
pering should stay in the next intermission, five minutes for 



98 Practicay Child Study.- 

each offence. Willie just could not control himself enough to 
keep from whispering. The teacher's first impulse was to let 
him off, because she knew he tried hard. Then the thought 
came, "If he conquers, it will give him self control." She told 
him she was sorry (and she was) that he must stay in all re- 
cess and ten minutes at noon, but it would be unfair to have 
the others stay in and let him go. He saw it and acknowl- 
edged it just. 

Play is essential to moral training. It is the only place 
where we may get a just estimate of the child's "Sense of 
Right," as it is the only complete means of self expression a 
child possesses. Dr. Hughes says : 

"The benefits of play are incidental. This is a most im- 
portant advantage. Incidental results are most lasting in all 
educational work. The man who takes exercise for the bene- 
fit of his health never improves so much as the man who takes 
the same exercise for some other purpose. * * All healthy 
children love to play, and play is the best agency for making 
children healthy. Play helps to restore harmony to those 
child natures in which the physical, the intellectual, and the 
moral powers are not properly balanced. It increases the 
power of vital life producing organs more than any formal ex- 
ercises. 

"The intellectual and moral advantages of play are fully as 
great as the physical benefits. The intense interest developed 
in playing, the unequaled concentration of attention on all the 
details and exigencies of the game, the quickness of judgment 
essential to success, and the determined and persistent efforts 
to execute the child's own decisions are the most perfect pro- 
cesses for the accomplishing of the most important of all in- 
intellectual results. ♦ ♦ * 



Practical Child Study. 99 

"Play has many moral advantages. Weakening self-con- 
"sciousness is overcome by social intercourse with other children 
tinder stimulating conditions. Self-control, both positive and 
negative, is acquired through the duties and exigencies of the 
game, which lequire both the direction and the restraint of 
power. Respectful submission to authority and recognition 
of law become second nature to the child who voluntarily obeys 
the laws of a game, knowing that ready obedience to these 
laws is an essential element in achieving success. 

"Self-reliance is defined and increased because each player 
must do his own part in winning the game. The consciousness 
of individual worth and responsibility is developed by the con- 
stant presentation of the fact that one poor player weakens his 
entire side." 

The subject of reading as an aid to moral culture will be 
left to the next chapter. 

Read : 

Adler's Moral Instruction of Children. 

Harrison's A Study of Child Nature. 

White's School Management. 

Welch's How to Study. 

Cromwell's How to Teach Reading. 



100 Practical Child Study. 



LANGUAGE. 

No where will Child Study do more for the teacher than irt 
the reading and language work. It will enable her to get the 
child's elements of thought, and to use his vocabulary as he 
uses it, /. e., to attach the same meaning to words that the 
child does. As we study the process of learning to read, we 
find that tve sometimes recognize the words and never get 
the thought that was intended to be expressed. For example, 
one of my pupils (a teacher) says when she reads or hears the 
word Ohio she thinks of a little 2x2^ in. map, when the word 
Mississippi is seen or heard, the first idea that comes to her 
mind is "a crooked, lightning-like, white or black line;" the term 
United States calls up a 4x6 in. "checkered, various-colored" 
map ; England means "a little, irregular affair on a blue back- 
ground." How much of their geography study was of any 
practical value ? But while teachers know better when they 
"stop and think," children actually think such ideas. A little 
girl knew a mountain was a very high hill, had trees on it,, 
some mountains had smoke issuing from the top, so she said, 
but when asked to show how high a mountain was she pointed 
to part of her finger nail. She received her idea from a defini- 
tion and a map. The stories of "Rocking on the pillows," 
"the consecrated cross-eyed bear," and "Dianah Moore," as 
the boy understood the hymns, are familiar. 

It is not what definition the dictionary gives, or what def- 
inition the child would give, if asked to define a word, that is of 
importance to him in his reading, it is what idea the word calls 



Practical Child Study. lor 

up, i. e., makes him think of then and there. Doctor Sher- 
man says, "I vividly recall an example in connection with the 
theological term grace. The object assigned to this at first 
hearing was a shovelful of gray wood-ashes such as I had seen 
my mother remove from the grate. The word did not cease 
to call up this image insistently until long past boyhood." 

Since poetry is to be felt rather than understood, it is of 
especial importance that in poetry the correct ideas be associ- 
ated with the words. When reading Milton's L'AUegro, I am 
sure to feel a chill creep over me when I come to the line, 
"And the mower whets his sithe." My thumb was cut by a 
scythe. One of my pupils tells me he shudders to hear, "The 
ploughman homeward plods his weary way." That pupil's 
last ploughing was done on a cold, wet, dreary day. Some 
years ago I heard a young man tell in a revival meeting, how 
he and his chums had broken their bottles of liquor. Tenny- 
son's beautiful little poem, "Break ! Break ! Break !" always 
called up that idea, until Professor Hamill explained how it 
was written about a girl whose lover had sailed away from the 
foot of the crags, and with her it was, "But O for a touch of a 
vanished hand ! And the sound of a voice that is still." 
What is "InMemoriam" to us, with the story of Arthur 
Hallam unknown, or, "Ay, tear her tattered ensign down !" if 
we know nothing about "Old Ironsides ?" If this be true with 
us who are older, how much more must it be true with the 
child ? Therefore the teacher should be careful to have every 
word associated with the idea for which it stands. If a word 
stands for an emotion, whenever practical let the child ex- 
perience the emotion. One of the greatest mistakes of this 
age is that we begin by educating the child's intellect rather 
than his emotion. The emotion that may be aroused by, "And- 



302 Practical Child Study. 

I hope the boys and girls are few that love not that flag— red, 
white and blue — that floats from the mast, that holds the sail, 
that moves the ship that Jack built,"* is worth half a dozen 
ordinary reading lessons. Children whose emotions of patriot- 
ism have vibrated to such sentiments all along the way up 
the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth readers, do not become 
our anarchists, strikers, criminals, or law-breakers. 

While preparing her lessons, whether it be the reading or 
any other lesson, the teacher should keep constantly in mind 
the answers to these questions : Why do I teach this branch ? 
What precisely do I wish to accomplish with this lesson ? 
What have I at my command that I may use to this end ? Of 
course this includes the child's experiences, knowledge, etc. 

Now in reading, the first object is to get the thought from 
the printed page. This requires words. So a vocabulary is an 
essential of every reading lesson, yes, every lesson. M. Com^ 
payre says, "Without words, only vague impressions possess 
the spirit, a mental state relatively passive. The use of words 
thoroughly comprehended implies, on the contrary, work, 
effort, and shows a high degree of self-activity." 

In the primers and the first readers, the sentences must 
necessarily be short, and limited to a few words. It is, there- 
fore, only by having the children deeply interested in the sub- 
ject matter that there may be sufficient association of ideas 
with the limited text to arouse interest in what the words say. 
It is here that color and form may be used to such an advan- 
tage to create interest. For we know that a child may be 
made to get his lessons, can be given any quantity of informa- 
tion, can be crowded through the examination, and not be re- 
ceiving an education. Unless interest in the subject is 



*Barnes' Second Reader, Lesson IX. 



Practical Child Study. 103 

awakened, the inevitable end will be failure. But once get a 
child thoroughly interested and he can educate himself along 
that line, at least. 

In the primary, is the place to teach color. Suppose it 
does take tim-e, how much would have been added to your 
life and to the lives of all of us, if we had had a systematic 
course in color? The study of form, though deep enough for 
Ruskin, yet may be presented simple enough for the child of 
three. What an opportunity the country teachers have to 
teach form and color ! Think of the dull, dreary lives that 
would be quickened, would have a new world opened to them 
if taught form and color. 

Pictures in the primer and first reader may furnish a basis 
for imagination, but they should be omitted from the second 
reader up, unless they are pictures of animals or objects that 
cannot be shown the pupil. For if pictures are needed in 
stories to increase the interest, explain the story, etc., some- 
thing is wrong with the constructive faculty. The imagina- 
tion should be able to build a picture that will serve the child 
better than any printed picture. And while the imagination 
should have free play, pictures limit it. Pictures appeal to the 
senses, while mind and heart should be the interpreters. 

All of the ordinary High School course in botany and 
zoology, except classification, should be taught in connection 
with reading. Upon examination, it is found that our readers 
furnish all that is necessary for the pupils along this line, 
since pupils are benefited by what they see for themselves 
and not by what they read about plants and animals. These 
object lessons may all be taught before pupils reach the fourth 
reader. In Barnes' Second Reader we find lessons about the 
bee, bird, monkey, cow, kite, pigs, moose, snail, kittens, sheep. 



104 Practical Child Study. 

squirrel, tea, wrens, apple core, park, deer hunt, rabbits, bridge, 
hens, parrot, rat, bear, harvest mouse, white bear, spider and 
fly, etc. — 50 cf the 56 lessons on natural history objects. In 
Barnes' Third Reader, 28 of the 59. In Swinton's First 
Reader, 19 of the 37, Swinton's Second, 34 of the 65, Swin- 
ton's Third, 26 of the 68 lessons are on natural history objects. 
In Harper's readers a still larger proportion. 

In Stickney's First we find about 40 lessons, in the Second 
about 45, in the Third the same number, and so on up, afford- 
ing ample material for the teacher who knows the subject to 
carry on an extensive course in observation lessons. 

But the most valuable work in observation has a direct 
bearing on the reading. Suppose a child has a funny expres- 
sion to read, can he express the idea if he has paid no 
attention to the way people express such ideas ? Let the 
teacher tell him to watch his schoolmates ; to notice how 
they, when playing, express such ideas. Tell him to imitate 
them. Then read the passage in the same manner. If they 
have a question to read, ask if they have noticed how their 
companions ask questions of one another. Imitate them, then 
read the question. Emphasis should be taught the same way. 
How did their companion speak when he made such a state- 
ment, or told such a story ? How did the person feel ? How 
do we talk when we feel that way ? When a pupil emphasizes 
a word let him be held to account for it. Some lively discus- 
sions may be had by a pupil and the class. Let the pupil de- 
fend himself or acknowledge his error. What more valuable 
observation lessons can be given ? 

Words have different meanings for different persons. 
Some interesting time may be spent selecting words that have 
pleasing associations, harmonious words or words that sound 



Practical Child Study. 105 

like the ideas which they are intended to express, melodious 
words or words that have a pleasing sound, and poetic words 
and phrases.* 

The reading class offers a golden opportunity for moral 
culture. In no other branch can we so well train pupils to 
think of pain, degradation, loss of friends, etc., in connection 
with every evil action, and to think of pleasure, happiness, 
esteem of playmates, etc., in connection with every good action. 
This is accomplished largely by means of what we call Charac- 
ter Study, "Effects, or Hints."* Supt. Skinner gives this 
example, "A little boy with a bloody nose and torn head of 
Jiair was running towards home. When asked what was the 
matter, he said : 'I hit Billy Smith's dog with a stone.' 

"I. What was it that he did not tell in plain words ? 
2. Did he need to tell that ? 3. Did he hint enough for 
you to account for his condition of nose and hair ? 4. What 
kind of a boy was he ? 5. What kind of a boy was Billy 
Smith ? 6. Count the number of hints given in the boy's 
reply."* 

At the close of the. following, we /t'^/ that Frank is a good 

boy. Why ? 

"Frank, I am going to drive my new pair of horses. Do you wish to 
go with me ?" 

"O yes. May Jane go, too ?" 

"Yes. We will go out to see Fred, ana look at his bees."t 
Take this from McGuffey's Second Reader, as another il- 
lustration : 

Under a great tree in the woods, two boys saw a fine large nut, and 
both ran to get it. James got to it first, and picked it up. 

*For full treatment see "Studies in Reading and Literature," an excellent little 
work on reading in the lower grades, published by J. H. Miller, Lincoln, Neb. See also. 
■"Analytics of Literature," Ginn & Co., and "How to Teach Reading," by A. D. Cromwell. 

fLesson I., Barnes' Second Reader. 



io6 Practical Child Study. 

"It is mine," said John, "for I was the first to see it." 
"No, it is mine," said James, "for I was the first to pick it up." 
What kind of boys do you think these boys were ? Why ?' 
One day while reading the Vision of Mirza, when we came 
to the sentence, "As I looked upon him [The Genius] like one 
astonished, he beckoned to me, and by the waving of his hand 
directed me to approach the place where he sat," I asked the 
class if they thought Addison obeyed. "Yes," said a little 
girl. When I asked what made her think so she answered, 
"Addison was a good man." She had just read how his last 
words were, "See in what peace a Christian can die." 

Supt. Skinner says, "As pupils study the effects reported, 
and discuss them, they have this question forced upon their 
consciousness, 'What effects are my words and actions daily 
proclaiming to the people about me ?' One teacher told me 
that he had seen his class so affected by this thought that the 
recitation hour became a period of most intense and yet in- 
teresting solemnity, and that, too, without any apparent per- 
sonal application of effects." 

In this work, pupils should read the lesson, clear up all 
questions of pronunciation and meaning of the words, and 
make plain to the teacher that they get the thought of the 
lesson. Then, if it is a stofy lesson (it may not necessarily be 
about boys and girls) the teacher should ask, what kind of a 
boy, girl, horse, or whatever it may be, do you think it is ? 
Then let the class go back and select the "hints" that made 
them feel so. Let us illustrate with Lesson IV. Barnes' Second 
Reader : 

One time when Frank was going to school, he found a poor little bird 
in the grass. It had got out of its nest, and could not fly back. 
Frank took the bird up in his hand. 



Practical Child Study. 107 

He could not put it back as the nest was too high up in a tree. 

He did not know what to do with it. At last he said, "You poor little 
bird ! I will take you home, and ask sister to put you into a cage. 

"When you are large and strong, you will fly back to the tree." 

So Frank took it home to his sister. She gave it food and water, and 
put it into a cage. 

Pretty soon the bird began to sing a little every day. 

Frank liked it very much, but one day he let it fly out of its cage to go 
back to its old home in the tree. 

After reading the lesson, clearing up questions on diction, 
pronunciation, etc., ask pupils how they like Frank. What 
kind of a boy do you think he is ? Then go over the lesson 
again to see what made them feel that way toward Frank 
As we go back we might notice that sympathy is touched by 
poor in the first sentence ; also by the author's placing the bird 
out of the nest. Would we care so much for a bird that was not 
a poor little bird ? That was not out of its nest and could 7iot fly 
back ? But these are points that we notice incidentally. We 
are hunting for what led us to like Frank. First, we notice 
our sympathy was aroused ; second, he took the bird up ; 
third, he thought at once of putting it back ; fourth, he re- 
solved to take it home and let his sister help him care for it. 
Do we like boys who trust their sisters ? fifth, he concluded to 
let it go as soon as it was able, and he told it so ; sixth, he fed 
and cared for it ; seventh, though it began to sing, and he 
must have desired to keep it, yet he let it go. My reader, 
would you or I have done that, or would we have thought up 
some excuse for keeping it ? "It must be happy because it 
sings, the cat might get it, or something might happen to it." 
Do you suppose after such a lesson a boy will like his sisters 
less or be cruel to a poor little bird ? Of course we want each 



io8 Practical Child Study. 

pupil to yi'^r/ the personal application, but we should not tell 
him so, or lead him to think that we are giving it as a sermon 
for him. 

If the teacher has more time she can spend it very prof- 
itably by questioning the pupils about birds — what kind of a 
bird do you think this was ? in what kind of a tree did it build 
its nest ? What birds are here now ? What birds stay here 
all year ? how do birds fly ? do birds hear ? how do you 
know ? how do they get their food? etc. 

Read: 
Welch's How to Study, Cromwell's How to Teach Reading, 
Skinner's Studies in Reading and Literature, Sherman's 
Analytics of Literature. 



Practical Child Study. 109 



EXPERIMENTAL CHILD STUDY. 

Ruskin says: "The more I think of it the more I find this 
conclusion impressed upon me, that the greatest thing a human 
soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it 
saw, in a plain way." The purpose of this chapter is to tell "in 
a pl'ain way" a few of the things which investigators are now 
seeing with regard to the development of a child. 

"The embryo of the future man begins life, like the savage, 
in a one-roomed hut, a single, simple cell. This cell is round 
and almost microscopic in size. When fully formed it meas- 
ures only one-tenth of a line (oJo in.) in diameter, and with the 
naked eye can be barely discerned as a very fine point. An 
outer covering, transparent as glass, surrounds this little sphere, 
and in the interior, imbedded in protoplasm, lies a bright glob- 
ular spot. In form, in size, in composition there is no apparent 
difference between this human cell and that of any other 
mammal. The dog, the elephant, the lion, the ape, and a 
thousand others begin their widely different lives in a house 
the same as man's. At an earlier stage indeed, before it has 
taken on its pellucid covering, this cell has affinities still more 
astonishing. For at that remote period the earlier forms of 
all living things, both plant and animal, are one. It is one of 
the most astounding facts of modern science that the first 
embryonic abodes of moss and fern and pine, of shark and crab 
and coral polyp, of lizard, leopard, monkey, and man are so 
exactly similar that the highest powers of mind and microscope 
fail to trace the smallest distinction between them. But let us 
watch the development of this one-celled human embryo."* 

♦"Ascent of man," Drummond. 



no Practical Child Study. 

"For some time bodily growth (in size and complexity) 
seems to be the only growth. And here, as regards man and 
animals, the animals seem to have the advantage. At birth 
the animal is better able to care for itself. It grows quicker 
and is often the child's superior in intelligence. 

"Concerning the mental life before birth we, of course, 
know nothing directly. Careful consideration of the conditions 
nevertheless leaves little room for difference of opinion on 
this point. There would be a kind of sensation arising from 
the processes of growth, determined largely by the variations 
in the condition of the blood of the mother. The activity of 
the child's heart would probably influence this embryonic 
mind. The very great activity of its other large muscles cer- 
tainly reacts powerfully on such mind as may be existent. 
Next to this source, the sense of pressure furnishes the greatest 
stimulus. A vague sort of consciousness is doubtless present; 
as this is caused by diffused stimuli, or arises from the less 
differentiated senses, it can be nothing more than an indefinite 
feeling, whose differences are most marked along the line of 
pleasure and pain. Yet this is the begiiming of mind. 

"At birth the body of the normal child seems to be about 
perfect. Careful examination of the tissues shows that this is 
true only in a general sense. The organs that have never 
acted are, many of them, ready to begin acting, but seldom is 
one of them able to act to very good purpose. The lungs, 
perhaps, most suddenly begin their proper work. It is indeed 
fortunate for us that the lungs can, in a way, begin work with- 
out delay and without much previous training. * * * The 
digestive system is quite imperfect, and only slowly comes to 
perform its proper functions."* 

*Dr. H. K. Wolf, North- Western Journal of Education," October, 1895. 



Practical Child Study.. hi 

Touch is believed to be present before birth. It is 
undoubtedly the first of the senses to be awakened. The 
sensibility of different parts of the body to touch is very great 
from the first. The lips and tongue, from the first, have an 
extreme delicacy. Next come the parts of the eye, the palm 
of the hand, etc. Tests made on older persons show that in- 
dividuals differ widely in sensibility to touch, and the parts of 
the body also differ. For instance a test with the compasses 
to see how far apart the points must be to be felt as two or one 
shows that on the tip of the tongue they may be felt as two 
points, if they are .04 in. apart, but on the sternum they must 
be nearly 1.76 inches, on the palm of the hand .08 in., on back 
of the hand 1.23 inches, while on the back of the neck they 
must be 2. 1 1 inches apart to be felt as two points. 

. The value of an educated touch is easily seen, if we think 
of the person buying cloth, the dry-goods clerk, or the banker 
who must rely largely on touch to distinguish good from bad 
money. 

Taste. "Numerous careful experiments show that the 
child is capable of bo7ia fide sensations of taste in the earliest 
moments of life ; and that, though he is for some time more 
obtuse and more uncertain in this respect than the adult, yet 
when a sapid object is introduced into his mouth, the resulting 
sensation really takes place by way of the gustatory bulbs and 
nerves, and is not merely a species of touch sensation, as some 
have held."* 

Some interesting experiments may be tried here, because 
few of us really know whether we taste or smell. We can 
hardly distinguish between water and a solution of essence of 
clove in water, unless we have the nostrils open. Many dis- 

*Tracy, Psychology of Childhood. 



112 Practical Child Study. 

criminations that are easilv possible with the nostrils open are 
difficult or impossible with the nostrils closed. It may not be 
out of place here to speak of the cultivation of the appetite. 
It is of the greatest importance to the child. The sense of 
taste was given to us that we might relish and discriminate — to 
relish that we might have a pleasing sensation in the mouth or 
stomach ; the power to discriminate that we might tell whole- 
some from unwholesome food. Discrimination being the 
proper office of taste. An education to subordinate appetite to 
will is the greatest blessing we can bestow on a child. 

Children should be taught from the first to eat food, not 
for its pleasant taste, but for its after effects. Attention should 
be directed to the after effects of good wholesome food as 
compared with the after effects of unwholesome food. 

As Froebel says: "In the early years the child's food is a 
matter of very great importance ; not only may the child by 
this means be made indolent or active, sluggish or mobile, dull 
or bright, inert or vigorous, but, indeed, y^r /z2.9 entire life. Im- 
pressions, inclinations, appetites, which the child may have 
derived from his food, the turn it may have given to his senses 
and even to his life as a whole, can only with difficulty be set 
aside, even when the age of self-dependence has been reached r. 
they are one with his whole physical life, and therefore inti- 
mately connected with his spiritual life. Parents and nurses 
should ever remember the following general principles : sim- 
plicity and frugality in food and in other physical needs during 
the years of childhood, enhance man's power of attaining hap- 
piness and vigor — true creativeness in every respect." 

Smell and taste are so hard to distinguish that they^ 
misfht almost be considered together. As we saw, the taste of 



Practical Child Study 113 

spices and other substances is largely dependent upon smell. 
It has been established beyond a doubt that new-born babes 
are susceptible to strong odors. Tests were made on both 
sleeping and waking babes and strong odors disturbed a child 
in both conditions. Yet, in regard to smell., man stands below 
many of the lower anirrials. 

Though this sense is entirely neglected, yet it might, if 
educated, be of great service to man. In to-night's paper I 
read, "Over one hundred people poisoned at a wedding 
supper." 

-It is a curious fact that we have no names for odors. We 
must say odor of camphor, of cloves, of onions, and so on. 
We have names for taste, sight, touch, and hearing — sour 
and sweet, blue and gray, hard and soft, loud and musical, etc. 
but for odors we have none. 

The sense of smell may be easily fatigued. Hold camphor 
gum to the nose, and breathe of it continuously for five or ten 
minutes. But, strange to say, fatiguing smell to one odor does 
not necessarily fatigue it to others. Fatigue it to essence of 
cloves and then try it with camphor, or any other odor. 

An instrument, the olfactometer, has been constructed for 
measuring sensitiveness to odors. It consists of a small glass 
tube telescoped in a larger tube which contains a sheet of blot- 
ting paper scented with an odor. The smaller tube has a rub- 
ber tube running to the nostril, and so arranged that all air 
entering the nose must come from the farther end of the small 
glass tube. The larger tube is fastened to a board register, 
and as the smaller one is slid back towards the blotting paper 
the distance that the smaller one must be slid back before the 
person breathing through it can tell the odor, is used as a unit, 
by which other odors may be measured in the same olfactom- 



114 Practical Child Study. 

eter, or other persons may compare their sensitiveness with 
the individual who first distinguished the odor. 

Temperature. — By this we do not mean sensitiveness to 
touch, but sensitiveness to heat and cold. Physics tells us 
things are cold because there is an absence of heat, but un- 
educated people say, "things are hot because they are Jiot, or 
cold because they are cold, just as lead is lead, and gold is gold." 
Now, strange as it may seem, they are right so far as we are 
concerned. A thing is hot because it affects our hot spots, 
and another is cold because it affects our cold spots. If we 
take a blunt-pointed instrument, cool it, then move it over the 
skin we may find certain spots do not feel it cold at all, but just 
feel it as a blunt point in contact, while other spots will feel it 
as decidedly cold. Try the same, by having it really warm, 
and discover the hot spots. 



.. As.'. 



A Cold-spot Map. 
From "Thinking-, Feeling, Doing," 

A child is sensitive to cold at birth, and some believe a 
child is sensitive to cold even before. Preyer found the warm 
bath, from the first, was enjoyed, but the cold was disliked. 
He also thinks the mouth especially sensitive to heat and cold. 
Yet but few satisfactory observations as to temperature sensi- 
tiveness, have been recorded. 

Hearing. — Since we are treating of the senses in the 
order of their development, we take just enough space here to 



Practical Child Study. 



115 



say ; that it is highly improbable that a child is sensitive to 
sound before birth, though many believe it is imme- 
diately sensitive to sound during the first day after birth, 
but it is some time before it distinguishes sounds. Dr. Kime's 
child could not tell the direction of sound, the third month. 
It is generally believed that a child will not turn his head in the 
direction of sound till about the fourteenth week. Some be- 
lieve hearing is the last sense awakened. 

Sight. — While sensitiveness to light seems to be one of 
the first, or the first feeling, yet it is some time before a child 
can see things, as we generally use the term. Though a child 
may have his eyes open towards an object, yet if he points the 
pupil of his eye away from the object, we should not conclude 
that he sees it. Some think a child is from four to six months 
old before he can tell the: smile of his mother or nurse from the 
smile of a stranger. It is probable that a child is a number of 
months old before he ever distinguishes colojs. 

Preyer, by his color tests — (i) naming a color and having 
the child select the object; (2) selecting the object and having 
the child tell the color — gained no results when he tested 
children twenty months old, but in the first part of the child's 
third year eleven correct answers and six incorrect answers 
were given. 



SENSITIVENESS 
GOLOR DIFFERENCES. 




From "Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," vol. II. 

Figures at bottom of cut indicate age. 



ii6 



Practical Child Study 



Muscular Feelings seem to be present from birth. But 
till about the third month they are very vaguely apprehended 
About the third month begins the discernment of weight. 
The child seems to take delight in lifting, squeezing, pulling 
(your hair), etc., due probably to the constitutional need of 
exercising the muscles. 

Dr. J. A. Gilbert made some very careful tests of school- 
children's power to distinguish weight by muscular feelings, or 
"hefting." Each child was given a box containing a number 
of cartridge-shaped blocks, and asked to select all those which 
seemed to him to be of the same weight. The child was pro- 
tected from fatigue, noises, and anything that disturbed his 
attention. 

Fig. 2. 



HUSCLE SENSE. 




n — r- 



-a n 7f B Tk 



From "Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," vol. II. 

Figure 2 gives the results. The figures at the bottom in- 
dicate age, those at the left weight. 

"The results show a gradual increase in ability to dis- 
criminate, from the ages of 6 to 13. At 6, the worst year of 
any for discrimination, the least perceptible difference was 
14. 8^ with 38 per cent, of non-discriminations ; at 13 years 



Practical Child Study. 117 

only 5.4^, with 2 per cent, of non-discriminations. After 13 
there was a gradual falling off of 6.8^, none failing to discrim- 
inate, and then another gain till at 17 it was 5.8^, with i per 
cent, of non-discriminations. Boys and girls, considered to- 
gether, gradually increase in ability, but when they are con- 
sidered separately, marked differences of sex appear. At 
7 they have the same ability. From this on, they gain with 
equal pace to the year 13, with the exception of the abrupt 
falling off for boys at 11. From 13 to 17 the difference in 
ability again becomes manifest in favor of boys. In general 
it may be said that superiority of boys in sensitiveness to dif- 
ference in weight increases with age, irregularities being 
noticeable, however, from 6 to 7 and from 12 to 14."* 

Measuring Thought and Movement. To measure the time 
that it takes a person to think, we find it neccessary first to find 
the time that it takes him to move. This time, between the 
instant that a signal is given and the instant that the person 
moves, is called his reaction time. Reaction time then means the 
time between the signal and the movement. Let a number of per- 
sons take hold of hands and form a ring. One squeezes the 
hand of the person on his left, that one, as soon as he recog- 
nizes it, squeezes the hand of the one on his left, etc., on 
around ; the time that it takes the signal to go around, divided 
by the number of persons, gives the average reaction time. Or 
let a number of persons form a ring, each one places his right 
hand on the head (or shoulder) of the person in front. 



* Dr. Gilbert, "Studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory." Vol, II. 



ii8 




Practical Child Study. 



I 



4^ 



\J> 




Chain-reaction. 



From "Thinking, Feeling; Doings" 

.The signal-man holds a watch, a stop-watch is best. The 
others close their eyes. They are told the instant they feel 
a pressure from the hand on their head to press immediately 
on the head of the person in front. The person with the watch 
starts the pressing, watches till the signal goes arDund, notes 
the seconds, divides the number of seconds by th^ number of 
persons, and has the average reaction time." Suppose there are 
15 persons and it takes 10 seconds for the signal to go around, 
10 divided by 15 gives J^ second as the average reaction time. 

By letting one of the first number of persons drop out and 
another person take his place, we may find whether all of the 
party react in same time. This is a crude way of getting 
reaction-time. 

For getting more accurate results, an electrical apparatus 
that records the instant the signal is given and the instant the 
muscles move, has been invented. The person with his finger 




y??mymy 



Ready for a Record. 
From " Thinking, Feeling, Doing." 



on a telegraph key, watches for the signal, then as soon as he 
sees it, he presses on the key. The time between the signal 



Practical Child Study. 



119 



and the pressing is his reaction time. Now if we wish to get 
his thouglit time, we tell him we have a number of signals, but 
we will give a certain one, and he must wait till he knows 
whether i-t is that one (a red for example), then as soon as he 
sees it is the one chosen, he is to act. If we have his reaction 
time, then get the time that it takes him to press the key after 
finding out whether it is the right signal, substract the reaction 
time from this, we have his thought time or discrimination time. 
Then tell him to wait till the given signal makes him think of 
something, that is till he associates something with it, subtract 
his discrimination time from this and you have his associa- 
tion time. 

The apparatus used for securing accurate records of 
children's Voluntary motor ability. Reaction time, and Reaction 
with discrimination and choice, consists of a tuning-fork 
A Fig. 3 which vibrates 100 times per second. When the tuning- 
fork vibrates it starts a current at b by means of an adjustable 
wire, which cannot be seen in thecut. Everytime thiscurrent 
is started it starts the needle onH. The tuning-fork iskept in 
constant motion by means of two Grove batteries connected to 

Fig. 3. 







From "Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," vol. 11. 



120 Practical Child Study. 

la, lb and Ila, lib. The child with his finger on the telegraph 
key at e, is told, when he sees the card (check between c and 
h) on the end of lever d move, to press on the key e. The 
person taking the record moves the switch at b to c, which 
starts the tuning-fork a and the needle at h, and at the same 
instant the lever d moves. Then the child by pressing on the 
key E stops the needle. Now the number of hundredths of a 
second over which the needle passed is the time between the 
signal and the action of the child, or the child's Reaction time. 

The bar d is arranged so that it may be slid toward or 
pulled from the end c, thereby exposing a red or blue card, as 
the operator chooses. This of course is used for discrimination. 

The part f is so arranged that it records taps made with 
the key on the bar ?/.* 

Dr. Gilbert found: "The time of simple reaction decreases 
with age. Boys and girls at 6, when averaged together, react 
in 29.5 hundredths of a second. This decreases to the age 12 
where the time is 18.7 hundreths of a second. From 12 to 13 
no increase is made, remaining at 18.7 for 13 also. From 13 on 
there is a gradual increase until 16, when the time is 15.5 
hundreths of a second. At 17 no gain is made. 

"The results, when considered for girls and boys separately, 
show marked difference in sex. Girls are slower at 7 than at 
6. At 6 the time required was 29.5 while at 7 they required 
31.5. At 8 there was a gain to 26.0. From this on there was 
a gradual gain in ability and a decrease in time till 12, where 
the time was 19.8. At 13, however, 20.5 hundreths of a second 
were again required, leaving the girls only one thousandth of 
a second better at 13 than they were at 11. After this there 
was an increase again till 17, where the reaction time for girls 
was 16.3." 

* For complete explanation of how to make, to operate, etc., see Yale Psychological 
Studies, Vol. II. 



Practical Child Study, 



121 



"The curve for boys shows no change from the general 
law of increase from 6 to 7. From 12 to 14 there is a marked 
difference in the rapidity of increase. At 12 the time required 
was 17.8, at 13 it was the same; at 14 there is a loss in ability, 
the time being 18. 0. Thus the boys were worse at 14 than at 
12, and but very little better than they were at ii. After 14 they 
again increased with almost the same rapidity as they did be- 
fore II until 16 and 17, where 14.7 hundredths of a second were 
required. Both boys and girls seemed to increase less rapidly 
from eight to nine than at the other ages. Boys were quicker 
than girls throughout."* 

Fig. 4. 




% ' f I F 5 S » 

From "Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," vol. II. 

As Dr. Scripture says: "The importance of rapid and 
accurate reaction and discrimination is evident. Astronomers 
have difficulty in recording the moment at which a star passes a 
line in the telescope. The sportsman must pull the trigger at just 
the proper moment. The foot-ball player, the fencer and the 
boxer are trained in rapidity of discrimination and reaction. 
It is evident that a player or a pugilist who takes a long time 
for discrimination, choice and volition, will give a decided ad- 
vantage to a quick opponent." 

* Studies from Yale Psychological Laboratory, Vol. II. 



122 



Practical Child Study. 



To Dr. Gilbert's tests on "Reaction with Discrimination 
and Choice," I am again indebted for the following results: 
But to make these results interesting to the reader, he must 
have clearly in mind what we mean by "Reaction with Dis- 

Fig, 5. 



REACTION 

WITH DISCRIMINATION 

im CHOICE. 




-ZF 71 7f 



Time of Thought at Various Ages in 
School Children. 
From " Thinking, Feeling, Doing." 

crimination and Choice." By that we mean that the child with 
his finger on the telegraph key, watched for the signal, know- 
ing that there might be any one of a number of signals given, 
but he was to tell (discriminate) which one, and then, if it was 
the chosen one, to press on the key. That is he was to dis- 
crimate the signals and then choose between movement and no 
movement of the key. It is to be remembered that in all of 
Dr. Gilbert's tests, about loo children of each year from to 6 to 
7 inclusive were tested. It must also be remembered that the 
children were tested by a trained scientist, who had no pet 
theories to try, but who wanted to see just what public-school 
children can do. 



Practical Child Study. 



123 



Speaking of the results of "Reaction with Discrimination 
and Choice," Dr. Gilbert* says: "Here, as in the other mental 
tests, ability increased and the length of time [reaction tirne] 
required, decreased with advance in age. This test implies 




~i J 



Measuring Mental and Muscui ar Time in Fencing. 
From "'Ihinkin^, Feeling, Doing.'''' 
Dr. Scripture's experiments sliow that a trained scientist thinks and moves as quickly 
as a trained fencer. f 

more complicated mental activity and, as would be expected, 
the influences, which affect mental life, show themselves more 
plainly in the results. For some cause or other development 
between 6 and 7 is arrested for girls here, as well as in the tests 
on reaction time. Boys seem to suffer no such back-set, but, 
starting at 53.5 hundredths of a second, continually increase 
from 6 till 13. From 13 to 14 they suffer a slight loss, after 
which they gain till 17, losing slightly, however, from 15 to 16, 
At 17 the time required for boys was 30.5 hundredths of a 
second. Boys may be said to undergo only one loss, that 

* Now at University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. 

t "Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," vol. II. 



124 



Practical Child Study. 



being also of small moment. Girls suffer two marked losses, 
the first from 6 to 7, increasing the time required from 51 
hundredths to 52.8 hundredths of a second. After 7 girls in- 
crease in ability very rapidly till the age 12, where the length 
of time was 37 hundredths. From 12 to 13, however, girls lose 
just as much as they gained during the two years preceding 
12, thus requiring 41.5 hundredths of second at 13, which is the 
same length of time required as at age 10. After 13 comes 
another very rapid gain till 17, with the exception of a small 
loss from 15 to 16, similar to the loss experienced by boys at 
that age. At 17 the time required for girls was 31.5 hundredths 
of a second. Boys are better in this test than girls. The 
average of all the boys of all ages [6 to 17 inclusive] is 39.8 
while that of the girls is 41. Not quite so much difference is 
seen here, however, as in the simple reaction time, where the 
average for boys was 20.2, while that of the girls was 22.3." 




Measuring how Rapidly a Pugilist Thinks and Acts. 
From '^ Thinking, Feeling, Doing " 



* "Studies from Yale Psychological Labaratory," whicn see for full description of 
apparatus, results, etc. 



Practical Child Study. - 125 

If we have a person's "reaction time with discrimination 
and choice," we may get his actual thought time (association 
time) by telling him to wait till the given signal makes him 
think of something. For example, suppose we tell him that 
the signal will be a word, the word horse, for instance, and he 
is to wait till he thinks of some horse before he presses the key. 
Suppose it takes him 52 thousandths of a second for his reaction 
time with discrimination, that is to tell whether the word which 
he sees is the correct word or not. Now, when he waits till 
he thinks of something, suppose it takes him 90 thousandths of 
a second, .090-.052.038 of a second, the time it took him to 
think of an object after seeing its sign. 

The importance of a quick association time is evident. 
Ordinary judgment is mere association. Most of the work in 
Arithmetic, History, in fact the "common branches," is mere 
association. It has been a wonder to me that College Presi- 
dents and others, when trying to convince a boy that he should 
go to school, have never called attention to the fact that an 
education makes one think quicker. I am now trying a series 
of experiments to see how much quicker a country boy, who 
has never been to school much, can think after one year's 
schooling. So far I am led to believe that some boys, who enter 
the commercial course, increase their thought time one half 
in one year, students in the other courses do not gain so much 
And I have my doubts whether a course can be followed that 
will do as much in the same time for any other pupil as a com- 
mercial course will do for a very gree?i country boy, and that is 
the* boy I refer to above. In a good commercial course slow 
?iess of thought, in "rapid calculation," in "journalizing," in pen- 
manship, in fact throughout the course, and especially in 
shorthand, is failure. In this day and age when life is reckoned 



126 



Practical Child Study. 



by thoughts, does it not seem as though more attention should 
be given to thinking quickly? The business man who thmks 
twice as quick as another, stands twice as good chance of 
making a good bargain, or else a chance of making twice as 
many bargains. 

Fig 6. 




From " Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," vol. II. 

Private school boys. 

Private school girls. 

Public school boys. 

Public school girls. 

Figure 6 gives the comparative lung capacity of School 
Children. 

Numbers at bottom indicate age, at the left cubic inches. 



Practical Child Study 127 

While not all courses may be equal to a commercial course, 
yet teachers may do much to increase children's speed in 
thought. Every problem, conjugation, declension, etc., should 
be given quickly. Answers should be given quickly. It should 
be noticed here that nervous, fidgety persons often have slower 
thought than quieter, more sedate persons. 

Read : 

"Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," Vol. II.; "Thinking, 
Feeling, Doing," "Psychology of Childhood," by Tracy. 



128 



Practical Child Study. 



HABIT. 



This work would be incomplete without a word or so on 
habit. If I had no apparatus with which to get reaction time, 
or association time, and perhaps if I had, I would use i8 and ' 
19 of the outlines for Language and Habit, 

Teachers may increase a child's usefulness or productive- 
ness by increasing his rate of thinking, but above this teachers 
may increase a child's usefulness both as to amount and kind 
of productiveness by inculcating habits of the right kinds. 

Dr. Maudsley says : *Tf an act become no easier after be- 
ing done several times, if the careful direction of consciousness 
were necessary to its accomplishment on each occasion, it is 
evident that the whok activity of a lifetime might be confined 
to one or two deeds — that no progress could take place in 
development. A man might be occupied all day in dressing 
and undressing himself ; the attitude of his body would absorb 
all his attention and energy ; the washing of his hands or the 

Fig. 7. 



VOLUNTARY 
MOTOR ABItmt 




.B0Y5 Mlll.Cnili 
BOVl 
CIRIi 



< • f 



Form "Yale Psychological Laboratory Studies," vol. II. 

Figure 7 gives the voluntary motor ability of School 
Children. 



Practical Child Study. 129 

fastening of a button would be as difficult to him on each oc- 
casion as to the child on its first trial ; and he would, further- 
more, be completely exhausted by his exertions. Think of the 
pains necessary to teach a child to stand, of the many efforts 
which it must make, and of the ease with which it at last 
stands, unconscious of any effort. For while secondarily-auto- 
matic acts are accomplished with comparatively little weari- 
ness — in this regard approaching the organic movements, or 
the original reflex movements — the conscious effort of the 
will soon produces exhaustion. A spinal cord without 
memory would simply be an idiotic cord. It is impossible for 
an individual to realize how much he owes to its automatic 
agency until disease has impaired its function." 

Habit simplifies our movements, makes them accurate, 
diminishes fatigue, and diminishes the conscious attention 
with which our acts are performed. 

"Every one knows," says M. Leon Dumont, "how a gar- 
ment, after having been worn a certain time, clings to the shape 
of the body better than when it was new; there has been a 
change in the tissue, and this change is a new habit of cohesion. 
A lock works better after being used some time ; at the outset 
more force was required to overcome certain roughness in the 
mechanism. The overcoming of their resistance is a phenom- 
enon of habituation. It costs less trouble to fold a paper 
when it has been folded already ; and just so in the nervous 
system the impressions of outer objects fashions for them- 
selves more and more appropriate paths, and these vital phe- 
nomena recur under similar excitements from without, when 
they have been interrupted a certain time." 

And Dr. James adds, "Habit is thus the enormous fly- 
wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It 



130 Practical Child Study. 

alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and 
saves the children of fortune from the envious uprisings of the 
poor. It alone prevents the hardest and most repulsive walks 
of life from being deserted by those brought up to tread there- 
in. It keeps the fisherman and the deck-hand at sea through 
the winter ; it holds the miner in his darkness, and nails the 
countryman to his log-cabin and his lonely farm through all 
the months of snow ; it protects us from invasion by the 
natives of the desert and the frozen zone. It dooms us all to 
fight out the battle of life upon the lines of our nurture or our 
early choice, and to make the best of a pursuit that disagrees, 
because there is no other for which we are fitted, and it is too 
late to begin again. It keeps different social strata from mix- 
ing. Already, at the age of twenty-five, you see the profes- 
sional mannerism settling down on the young commercial 
traveller, on the young doctor, on the young minister, on the 
young counsellor-at-law. You see the little lines of cleavage 
running through the character, the tricks of thought, the prej- 
udices, the ways of the 'shop,' in a word, from which the man 
can by-and-by no more escape than his coat sleeve can sud- 
denly fall into a new set of folds. On the whole, it is best he 
should not escape. It is well tor the world that in most of us, 
by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and 
will never soften again. 

"If the period between twenty and thirty is the critical 
one in the formation of intellectual and professional habits, 
the period below twenty is more important still for the fixing 
oi persona/ habits, properly so called, such as vocalization and 
pronunciation, gesture, motion, and address. Hardly ever is 
a language, learned after twenty, spoken without a foreign 
accent ; hardly ever can a youth transferred to the society of 



Practical Child Study. 131 

liis betters unlearn the nasality and other vices of speech bred 
in him by the associations of his growing years. Hardly ever, 
indeed, no matter how much money there be in his pocket, 
can he even learn to dress like a gentleman-born. The mer- 
chants offer their wares as eagerly to him as to the veriest 'swell' 
but he simply cannot buy the right things. An invisible law, 
as strong as gravitation, keeps him within his orbit, arrayed 
this year as he was last ; and how his better-clad acquaintances 
contrive to get the things they wear will be for him a mystery 
till his dying day."^® 

And now we find this work drawing to a close. Let me 
urge upon you that you read Dr. James's chapter on "Will" 
and the one on "Self," and if you intend to "teach more 
than this term," some of the work outlined along back. And 
with all this, how does Child Study benefit the child? It has 
opened the eyes of the world to the astonishing varieties and 
-variations of childish tendencies and inclinations, to the rise 
of these various and natural inclinations at an age much earlier 
than most of us thought, in fact, it has proved that many of 
these are present at birth. It has shown how strong these 
natural tendencies or likings for certain subjects manifest 
themselves from the first before the leveling tendencies of 
our public schools have time to take effect. It has shown how 
boldly children will manifest tendencies, unless turned out of 
their natural course by artificial means. How many of the 
failures, the pains, and the sorrows of this world are directly 
chargeable to the system of bringing all childish minds under 
one form, to work all for the same end, however far that end 
may be from the child's natural bent? How much character 
has been dwarfed, how much intellect impoverished, how 
many hopes and ambitions destroyed by this system in which 



132 Practical Child Study. 

the will and wish of the individual must be perfectly subserv- 
ient to a set form ? 

But the time will come, and that soon, when sound edu- 
cators, whether parents or teachers, will adopt as their guide 
the principles and methods laid down by the results of the 
Child-Study movement that is so rapidly gaining our best 
men and women to its cause, for by its principles and 
methods alone can educators assign to the various actions 
and appearances of the child their right places in the vast 
structureof human development. 

Ignorant of his past, ignorant of his real needs, ignorant 
of himself, man has blundered up the thorny path of progress 
for centuries. By following blind guides, pursuing wrong 
paths, mistaking their destination, millions havebeen hurled to 
their destruction in the perilous ascent. And how may we 
without knowing something of a child's characteristics, his 
tendencies, and his attainments, become safe and sure guides 
up this path of intellectual and moral development? Child- 
Study, the new science of education, steps in, offering the rec- 
ords of what the child has been and is, and the wise teacher 
reading the future by the unwavering light of the past, may 
confidently offer himself as the youth's guide and instructor, 
ready to conduct him by sure steps, upward and onward to the 
highest summit which his nature is capable of attaining. And 
who dares set a limit to that? 



Practical Child Study. 135. 



REFERENCES. 

Children Below School Age. 

Psychology or Childhood, Tracy, D. C. Heath & Co 90 

First Three Years of Childhood, Perez, E. L. Kellogg & Co 1.50 

Infant Mind, Preyer, D. Appleton & Co 1.50 

Development of Intellect, Preyer, D. Appleton & Co 1.50 

Senses and Will, Preyer, D. Appleton & Co 1.50 

M.ental Development, Baldwin, Macmillan & Co., N. Y 

A Study of Child Nature, Harrison, Chicago Kindergarten College... 

Notes on the Development of a Child, University of California Series. 

Children of School Age. 

Moral Instruction of Children, Adler, D. Appleton & Co 1.50 

Symbolic Education, Blow, " " 1.50 

Education of Man, Froebel, " " 150 

Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child. D. Appleton & Co. 1.50 

Child Study, M. V. O'Shea (in preparation), D. E. Heath & Co 

Series of Articles on Child Study, by M. V. O'Shea. now (Sept. 1895) run- 
ning in "Intelligence" (Chicago) 

Series of Articles on Child Study, by H. K. Wolf, now (Sept. 1895) run- 
ning in "North-Western Journal" of Education (Lincoln, Nebr.). 

Thinking, Feeling, and Doing, E. W. Scripture, Flood & Vincent, 

Meadville, Penn 1.50 

Studies from Yale Psychological Laboratory, E. W. Scripture, New 

Haven, Conn 1.00 

Hand Book of Child Study, 111. Society, Nos. 1, 2, each 50 

Child Study Monthly (Chicago) per year 1.00 

Pedagogical Seminary, Worcester, Mass., per year 4.00 

Vol. I, No. 2; vol. II, Nos. 1, 2, 3; vol. Ill, No. 1. 

All companies in Chicago unless stated otherwise. Any book in this list may be 
ordered of W. M. Welch & Co. 



New Opening Exercises. 

BY rilOF. C. H. GUIINEY. 

(Clotli bound, . f 1.00.) 

How to open school each clay is a practical question for wide-awake teachers. 

Whether the Bible l)e used or not may be left to the judgment of eacli 
teacher, but In any case there ouglitto be some form of opening exercises. 

Says W. N. Hailman : "Undoubtedly one of the most powerful special helps iu 
ethical instruction is the opening exercise. Here the child may learn to study 
systematically, and to love it. Here its whole being may be attuned ethically for 
the day's work." 

A progressive teacher rose in an association recently and stated that she had 
completely broken up tardiness by the interest created in opening exercises. 

Prof. Gurney has prepared a book of "Openinu; Exercises" that will be welcomed 
by teachers and pupils. It contains a fresh, interesting, profitable and beautiful 
opening exercise for every aay in the year. 

There is leally a program of exercises for each morning , which may be 
varied or modified by each teacher as occasion requires. 

We quote as follows from the Author's preface: 

"Every Opening Exercise should be (i) brief, (2) interesting and attractive, 
(3) appropriate and preparatory to tlie work of the pupil, (4) educative and elevat- 
ing — teaching a good lesson. 

"Beginnings are regarded with much interest. The beginning of each school 
day should be a matter of constant interest to every teacher. A day well and 
pleasantly begun is likely to be a pleasant and successful day, and to have a pleas- 
ant and successful close. The wide-awake teacher says: 'What shall I have for 
my next opening exercise?' Theroutine teacher thinks nothing of the matter. 

"Opening exercises carefully and judiciously prepared, and wisely conducted, 
form an important part of a .school day. As a part of moral education a good 
opportunity is presented : 

"To create favorable impression. 

"To incite to noble and generous action. 

"To lead to admiration of pure character, and a desire to attain the same. 

"■Making character stadi/ and the virtues the basis of work, no lack of materia', 
need ix- felt by any •■ncriictic and ingenious teacher." 

t'lotli Ixiuiid, pric-f $1.(1-1. 

Special rate-< to teachers desiring a quantity for tlie use of pupils. 



Teachers' Memory Gems. 

(Beautifuhy bound in imitation Alligator, iJOc.) 

It aims : 

To familiarize pupils and teachers with the principal English and Americao 

authors. 
To set forth the masterpieces of each author with gems from eai b. 
To supply beautiful thought gems tor pupils to commit to memory. 
To provide blank pages for gems selected by the teacher or jiupils. 
To show teacliers the plan of conducting this work to tlie best advantage. 
PUPILS' MEMORY GEMS arranged for carrying out the Mwkabove indicated. 
PUPILS' EXAMINATION PAPER TABLETS, VOLUMES, Etc., contain appropriate 

headings with suggestions for neatness, system, etc. 
COMMON SCHOOL DIPLOMAS for Country Schools. 
MONTHLY REPORT CARDS to parents, of scholarship and deportment; assorted 

colors, $1 per 100. 
DIPLOMA CARDS— size, 5'/2x3— certificates for punctuality, good conduct, etc., 
etc., $2 per 100. 

SAMPLES AND CATALOGUES SENT ON APPLICATION. PROMPT ATTENTION 10 
MAIL ORDERS FROM TEACHERS. 

W. M. ^^^ELCH, Publisher. 

Garden City Block, 
CHICAGO, 



HOW TO STUDY. 

A Book for Self Improvement in School and Home. 

(Cloth Bound, Price, f l.oo.) 

This book aims to give pupils suggestions and direction as to 
the manner and method of stud3^ In the first 40 pages it gives 
general suggestions on developing an active, healthful, vigorous 
mind, and points out the evil effects of bad habits of study and of 
thought. Next it takes up the common branches separately, giving 
suggestions on the method of studying each. The last part is 
devoted to Character Building, or the Development of the 
Man as a work apart from the acquisition of knowledge. From 
the author's preface we quote as follows : 

" Many people acquire knowledge; few get wisdom. The manner 
and method of acquisition is of great importance. The faculty of 
acquiring and committing is not one of the highest order; in fact it 
is often found in inverse ratio to the power tc originate, apply and 
utilize, and the wrong habit of acquiring knowledge may do more 
harm to the student than the knowledge itself benefits. 

" 'Habits of thought and of life are inore than knowledge, and the 
habits formed in early life may render knowledge useless and even 
harmful.' Many faithful, hard-working students often form plodding 
hal)its of tiiought that render their work, on the whole, more harmful 
than helpful. The advice so often given to pupils by speech-makers 
in schools to 'sit down doggedly to the work, and keep at it and 
you'll surely succeed in time,' would be all well enough if the end and 
aim were to commit the Koran, Talmud or sacred Vedas. But pro- 
gressive educators believe more in unfolding the student's powers under 
proper conditions than in branding them with/acis. 

"Acquisition should be more a means than an end. 

" The ultimate end of study is not to make but to cause to grow, — 
clear, active, healthful, vigorous, powerful minds, not to acquire 
facts alone, but also " the fire that dissolves all facts.' " 

This book should be in the hands of Third, Fourth and Fifth 
tieader pupils, a lesson assigned them (as one class) each day, and 
a general recitation given for its thorough discussion. 

Special rates to teachers and county superintendents desiring 
large quantities to supply pupils. 

^W. M. W^ELCH. Publisher. 

C.arden City Block, 
CHICAOO. 











sum 

019 820 195 9 



-t>i 






m 



